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Firm's filing updated day after news broke Hillary Clinton aide did outside consulting work

August 25, 2015, 9:47 am
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Last week, CNN reported that a "company tied to" Huma Abedin - Hillary Clinton's longtime aide - was "registered with the New York Department of State" on May 23, 2012.

"Zain Endeavors was registered 11 days before Abedin left her post as Clinton's deputy chief of staff to work instead as a consultant for the State Department, the Clinton Foundation and Teneo, a consulting firm with deep ties to the Clintons," investigative correspondent Chris Frates reported for CNN on August 19, 2005.

In addition - unnoticed or unreported by CNN - the Zain Endeavors LLC registration "file was last updated on May 17, 2013", which was the day after Maggie Haberman, John Brensnahan and Glenn Thrush broke the story for Politico that the State Department and Hillary Clinton had kept the job change secret for nearly a year.

"Huma Abedin — Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide and the wife of all-but-declared New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner — spent her final months at the State Department working as a part-time consultant with the agency who at the same time was allowed to represent outside clients, POLITICO has confirmed," the article announced to the world. It was published after 4 PM EST on Thursday, May 16, 2013, which meant that anyone wanting to change the filing would have had to wait until the next day to realistically accomplish that.

"The new status made her a 'special government employee,' which was tantamount to being a consultant, according to the source, whose information was confirmed by two other staffers familiar with the matter. Multiple sources told POLITICO Abedin did work for other clients, which a friend of Abedin said totaled four, including the State Department, Hillary Clinton, the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation and Teneo, the firm co-founded by former Bill Clinton counselor Doug Band.

It’s the first time that Abedin’s changed status at State has been made public and comes as her husband, who resigned his Queens congressional seat amid scandal in 2011, is expected to launch a comeback mayoral campaign next week."
It's unknown what was changed in the filing, but it's possible that the address was changed from the Weiners' Manhattan condo to the registered agent's, in order to make it more difficult to tie it to Abedin, which could further distract from her husband's mayoral campaign.

Also, on May 16, Abedin and Weiner shot the first campaign ad for his unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

On April 23, 2013, Weiner revealed to Michael Barbaro at the New York Times that he "embark[ed] on a new career after he left Congress on June 16, 2011", and "[o]n July 7, he quietly incorporated a new firm, Woolf Weiner Associates, named for his great-grandfather, an Austrian immigrant to the Lower East Side." However, Weiner didn't say anything about his wife possibly having her own consulting firm, as well.

Some of Weiner's consulting gigs were to firms tied to the Clintons, as the Times noted. In May of 2013, I exclusively linked one of former New York Democratic Congressman Weiner's private consulting clients to former President Bill Clinton.

"There is nothing illegal about a private citizen creating a company, nor is it unprecedented for someone who is self-employed to form an LLC to provide them with legal protections and tax benefits," Frates reported for CNN. "But the timing is noteworthy because some conservative lawmakers and outside groups have questioned whether Abedin's consulting work for the State Department and private organizations created a conflict of interest."

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Banking executive who contacted Huma Abedin before taking Teneo job was also a State Dept. advisor

August 28, 2015, 9:21 am
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Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin is not the only person who performed work for Teneo and the State Department at the same time.

Emails finally released by Huma Abedin, the former Department of State Deputy Chief of Staff to Hillary Clinton, not only confirm my stories in March (as detailed by Judicial Watch in April) about how she apparently helped coordinate two events in Ireland, while secretly working for the Clinton Foundation and consulting firm Teneo, they also reveal another sketchy relationship that I've been investigating.

"David Bossie, founder of Citizens United, said the e-mails show the 'tangled web that is the State Department, Teneo and the Clinton Foundation,'" Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger noted in Thursday's Washington Post.

The story continues, "In a July 2012 e-mail exchange, the assistant to New York banking executive Ken Miller wrote to Abedin on her State Department e-mail account, saying that Miller 'has been in talks with Teneo' and that he 'would appreciate your input on a decision he’s considering.' Over e-mail, Abedin agreed to meet Miller at New York’s Harvard Club. He ultimately accepted a job with Teneo. Miller did not respond to requests for comment."

However, either unnoticed or unreported by The Washington Post, Ken Miller was also a member of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy at the time he contacted Huma Abedin, which meant that he was also an advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

As this archived link from the US State Department website shows, Ken Miller was on the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy going back to at least January, 2012. Before he began working for Teneo, the State Department website stated that he was "President and CEO Ken Miller Capital LLC", but then some time in 2012 it switched to "Senior Advisor, Teneo Holdings, and President & CEO, Ken Miller Capital, LLC", and then, finally, "Senior Advisor, Teneo Holdings".

This is how the US Department of State website would have looked in January of 2013, if Ken Miller's name appeared first alphabetically [Editor's Note: I used photoshop to create this mash-up of what can be viewed at this archived link]:



Basic googling would have revealed to the Washington Post that Ken Miller's own biography on Teneo's website noted that he "acts as advisor to the US State Department through its Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy."

However, Ken Miller's name was scrubbed from the US State Department website quietly in January of 2015, just a few months before Hillary Clinton officially entered the 2016 presidential race.

According to the US Dept. of State website, "The State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP) serves the U.S. Government in a solely advisory capacity by providing a forum for discussion of issues and problems in international economic policy. Committee membership consists of representatives of U.S. organizations and institutions, including from business, organized labor, environment, state and local government, academia, legal consultancies, and non-governmental organizations."

"The Committee is established under the general authority of the Secretary of State and the Department of State as set forth in Title 22 of the United States Code, in particular Section 2656 of that Title and consistent with Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C., Appendix). The Under Secretary for Management's approval of this charter constitutes a determination by the Secretary of State that the establishment and operation of the Committee are in the public’s interest in connection with performance of duties of the Department of State,"the Charter of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy states.

The ACIEP Charter adds, "The Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs (the Assistant Secretary) shall invite the members to serve for a period of two years or less. Vacancies may be filled as they occur. The Assistant Secretary may remove a member at any time, for any reason." After being unanimously confirmed in 2009 after President Barack Obama named him to the position, Jose W. Fernandez served until October of 2013 as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, until he resigned and was immediately hired to join the New York law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, as a partner. Mr. Fernandez was also "the State Department’s principal representative in the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)", which approved a controversial uranium deal with Russia during Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State.
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Joe Wilson invites Hillary Clinton to see 'Fair Game' via Sid Blumenthal

September 1, 2015, 1:14 pm
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Everyone in the media seems to be mocking Sid Blumenthal's emails to Hillary Clinton from the latest batch released on Monday.

I searched for movie and found Blumenthal forwarding an October 13, 2010 email from former US Ambassador Joe Wilson inviting Hillary Clinton and Potus (ret) aka former President Bill Clinton to see the movie based on himself and his wife, Valerie Plame, "Fair Game". Wilson calls it "the film of our fight with the Bush administration."

Wilson offers the Clintons a choice of screenings to attend or suggests that he can arrange a private screening at their "home or elsewhere. Depending on the time, either Valerie or I would be delighted to attend and answer questions afterwards."

"Valerie and I think that the film tells the story of that time and are proud of it," Wilson adds. "I would be pleased to share it with you."

I reported on the Plame scandal ("Court filings shed more light on CIA leak" and "Jeff Gannon's 'Internal Government Memo' Lie" are two examples), love Naomi Watts, especially love Sean Penn, and Doug Liman's "Go" is a clever film, but this "Fair Game" was even worse than the one with Cindy Crawford and Billy Baldwin. I think the Rotten Tomatoes score of 79 is probably a partisan reaction against Bush and the lies that led to the Iraq war. It didn't even make $10,000,000 at the box office.



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Washington Post publishes another confusing story about Clinton email server

September 14, 2015, 3:48 pm
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New spokesman hired by firm scrubbed the website for his own firm days ago to remove name of former President Bill Clinton deputy staff secretary who has been recently defending Hillary Clinton over emails on MSNBC

There won't be any - and certainly shouldn't be - Pulitzer Prizes awarded to the New York Times or the Washington Post for reporting on the Hillary Clinton email scandal. Both papers have made sloppy mistakes and it's hard to tell if their articles have helped or hurt the top 2016 presidential candidate, as opposed to her actual actions since leaving the State Department which have hurt her: deleting emails and taking too long to apologize for using a private account. And nearly one month to the day after publishing a confusing story about the Clinton email server that was seized by the FBI, three of the same four Washington Post journalists strike again.

On August 12, 2015, four top Washington Post journalists - Karen Tumulty, Rosalind Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Carol Leonnig - reported, "The e-mail server used by Hillary Rodham Clinton when she served as secretary of state was turned over to the FBI late Wednesday afternoon from a private data center in New Jersey, according to an attorney familiar with the transfer."

The source for that story was "Barbara J. Wells, a Denver lawyer who represents Platte River Networks Inc., a small computer services firm that has managed the Clintons’ private e-mail system since mid-2013."
"After she left government service in early 2013, the Clintons decided to upgrade the system, hiring Platte River as the new manager of a privately managed e-mail network. The old server was removed from the Clinton home by Platte River and stored in a third party data center, which are set up to provide security from threats of hacking and natural disaster, Wells said.

Platte River Networks has retained control of the old server since it took over management of the Clintons’ e-mail system. She said that the old server 'was blank,' and no longer contained useful data.

'The information had been migrated over to a different server for purposes of transition,' from the old system to one run by Platte River, she said, recalling the transfer that occurred in June 2013.

'To my knowledge the data on the old server is not available now on any servers or devices in Platte River Network’s control."
After that story was published, I complained to the four Washington Post journalists on Twitter and in an email that their article was full of misinformation. That there was plenty of information and "useful data" that could be retrieved, even if the server had been wiped, and that constantly quoting Hillary Clinton and lawyers claiming that nothing had been emailed marked classified made no sense since the information itself could be classified. I even suggested that they read a Bloomberg news article to learn more about forensic server retrieving and an editor from Ars Technica retweeted me.

Also, the dateline was confusing, and the Washington Post journalists made no effort to explain it. Why were there multiple servers and did the FBI have the correct one? This couldn't have been the server Hillary Clinton staffers used to send emails to the State Department last winter, if it had been blank since June of 2013.

"Thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state have disappeared off the private server taken into custody by the FBI Wednesday evening, raising questions as to where that data presently resides," Sarah Westwood reported for the Washington Examiner on August 14, 2015. "Platte River Networks does not have any data from the old server that is available on any of the servers or devices that they currently have in their control," Wells told Westwood.

One possible explanation is that the server was transferred to Platte River in reaction to the hacking of Sidney Blumenthal's email account by the Romanian hacker Guccifer in March of 2013, or perhaps it was compromised shortly after, but the feds should be able to determine that. "Someone needs to ask Hillary Clinton or the FBI directly if the FBI has the actual computer that the emails were printed up from," I said to Westwood in a DM conversation last month, in reaction to her story.

"The revelation that Clinton never ordered the server wiped could bolster her statements that her actions have been aboveboard, suggesting that she did not take active steps to hide her e-mails," Rosalind Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Carol Leonnig reported for The Washington Post on Friday, only there isn't any "revelation" in their article, just more confusion, perhaps intentional, and it's ludicrous to claim deleting emails isn't an "active step". It would be like arguing that the fictional serial killer Dexter only chopped up a body, and didn't use acid to properly dispose of it, so his "actions have been aboveboard."

The Washington Post journalists have ignored my criticism of other sloppy reporting they have recently committed in related stories.

On August 27, Helderman and Hamburger wrongfully reported, that Huma Abedin "has said little publicly about her multiple roles during that time, a personally tumultuous period following the birth of her son and a texting scandal that ended the political career of her husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)." But the timeline is completely off. Abedin's "multiple roles" - working for at least four different employers at the same time - were played from June of 2012 until she left the State Department on February 1, 2013, before Weiner ran for mayor. It wasn't a "personally tumultuous period", since Abedin hadn't started pretending, yet, that the Weiners had patched up their marriage issues and counseling had cured his sexting addiction. Abedin lost a lot of supporters when it turned out that interviews she gave to People and The New York Times were, at best, disingenuous.

In that same story, Helderman and Hamburger ignored that one of their sources, longtime Clinton supporter, "Niall O’Dowd, publisher of Irish America magazine" had claimed in a June of 2014 essay that "12 of us old-time Hillary supporters sat with her in a Dublin restaurant at a dinner hosted by businessman Denis O’Brien", as I reported in March, but now the less controversial American Ireland Fund director John Fitzpatrick was being fingered as the host instead of Teneo CEO Declan Kelly or O'Brien, who received bad press coverage in March.

And this line also seems to be ignorant of historical events: "As Clinton was preparing in late 2012 to leave office, Abedin also was considering her post-government career options." Even if her husband won the New York City mayoral race, it was always expected that Abedin would return to Clinton's side as she prepared to launch another presidential campaign that surprised no one.

On August 27, I reported that the same Washington Post article neglected to mention that banking executive Ken Miller was an advisor to the State Department when he contacted Huma Abedin for advice in July of 2012, before taking a job with Teneo. Also, Washington Post journalists ignored my exclusive reporting about Hillary Clinton's last trip to Ireland as Secretary of State which involved events with fundraisers and Teneo CEO Declan Kelly, and when it was confirmed in the emails Citizen United leaked to them, they flubbed the reporting and failed to note key information. The paper has also ignored that Huma Abedin's attorneys have deep ties to the State Department and Hillary Clinton, and never seems to challenge them on how long they've represented her or who is paying them.

"The company that managed Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private e-mail server said it has 'no knowledge of the server being wiped,' the strongest indication to date that tens of thousands of e-mails that Clinton has said were deleted could be recovered," Rosalind Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Carol Leonnig reported for The Washington Post on Friday. "'Platte River has no knowledge of the server being wiped,'" company spokesman Andy Boian told The Washington Post. All the information we have is that the server wasn’t wiped."

But this is nothing more than a useless sound bite that raises more questions than it answers. Instead of definitively finding out if the server was wiped or not, the reporters based an entire story on a non-definitive statement. If no one connected to the Clinton server can give a straight answer on whether or not it was wiped, then the media should stop quoting them on that topic, and grill them about something else instead. A few weeks ago, Wells hung up on a Bloomberg reporter after asked for further details.

"Even if the e-mails could be restored, it’s unclear whether anyone would have the authority to do so," the Post reporters admit, before, adding, "Conservative groups have already been pressing in court for access to those e-mails, if they exist," which is another example of the paper, yet again, ignoring lawsuits by liberal leaning journalists at Gawker and Vice News.

On August 27, Rosalind Helderman reported claims by Platte River that it had received death threats, but didn't note if any police reports had been made by the firm ("Tom Hamburger, Karen Tumulty and Alice Crites contributed to this report") Their new source is "Andy Boian, a public relations manager brought on last week to help Platte River deal with its newfound fame."
"Last week, an attorney for the company said the server was 'blank' when it was turned over to the FBI. Attorney Barbara Wells also said that at one point, data from the server was 'migrated' to another server for the purpose of making the transition to Platte River.

But Boian, the public relations manager, said he could no longer be confident that Wells’s information about the server being blank had been accurate."
According to his online biography, Andy Boian has had a long career working in Democratic politics, and he was on the "transition teams for both the nation's forty-second president and a United States secretary of the interior." Bill Clinton was the 42nd president, and Boian's Linked In biography adds, "Andy has also been actively involved in politics at the local and national levels as a senior advisor, strategist, and speechwriter. In these capacities he has worked on numerous mayoral, gubernatorial and presidential campaigns for the past 21 years. He served on the transition team for the nation's 42nd President, and two cabinet nominees for two different presidential administrations."

Just days ago, Andy Boian's firm Dovetail Solution's website was scrubbed and Strategic Counselor David Goodfriend's name was removed. "His positions in government service have included deputy staff secretary to President Bill Clinton, professional committee staff to Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), and media legal advisor to FCC Commissioner Susan Ness. Goodfriend helped found Air America Radio and co-hosts “Left Jab” on Sirius-XM. He also is a regular political contributor to MSNBC, CNBC and Fox."

On MNSNBC, David Goodfriend has been blasting the media for its Hillary Clinton coverage, as Media Matters notes: "The second thing is, I saw some very interesting news about a federal judge saying there's nothing wrong with what Hillary Clinton did with respect to deleting personal e-mails. Where is the big coverage of that? Oh, wouldn't you know it, that's just buried, deep, deep, deep. I had to research and Google and try to find it. Oh, here it is! So come on. Don't tell me there's this even-handed treatment of Hillary Clinton -- everybody in the press corps seems to love the gotcha game."

As Google notes, this is "a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Sep 9, 2015":

On August 24, Breitbart.com's Patrick Howley broke the news, that Goodfriend worked for Dovetail Solutions. "Goodfriend took a class at Georgetown Law School with current Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, who was then in between shifts in the Bill Clinton White House," Howley reported. "Goodfriend is reportedly a member of a Hillary Clinton For President organization. His relationship with Podesta was documented."

On April 22, David Goodfriend contributed $2,700 to the Hillary For America presidential campaign. On August 28, 2008, Goodfriend contributed $1,000 to Friends of Hillary, and he gave $2,300 to her general and primary campaigns on October 18, 2007 and another $1,000 to the primary campaign on June 11, 2007.

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Controversial firm linked to Clintons handles press for $17.7 billion Cablevision deal

September 19, 2015, 4:43 pm
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A controversial consulting firm connected to the Clintons scored a bigtime client under the radar recently. And even though Teneo was founded by two Hillary Clinton fundraisers - including CEO Declan Kelly who she appointed as Economic Envoy to No. Ireland while she was Secretary of State - the D.C. press ignores the news. The specific person handling the press for the multi-billion dollar international cable deal once worked for a firm whose owner consulted former President Bill Clinton.

"Cablevision has agreed to sell itself to Altice, an acquisitive European telecommunications giant, for about $17.7 billion, including debt, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday," Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross Sorkin reported for the new York Times on September 16.

"Teneo Strategy's David Vermillion is handling press for Altice, which has cable systems in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel, Dominian Republice and French Caribbean,"Kevin McCauley noted at O'Dwyer's PR.

According to his LinkedIn resume, David Vermillion has been working at Teneo since 2013, after a year as Executive Vice President for Edelman, and it notes, "In 2005, Dave played a central role in the landslide reelection campaign of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, writing and producing all television and radio commercials and direct mail as well as serving as spokesman for her campaign." Vermillion also worked for Sheinkopf Ltd. as Vice President from 2003 to 2006, for former Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who consulted for President Bill Clinton on his successful 1996 re-election campaign.

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Weiner hoaxer

October 26, 2014, 2:49 pm
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This is just a temporary placeholder for picture of Weiner hoaxer.
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Hillary Clinton quote about Huma Abedin not necessarily a contradiction

September 25, 2015, 12:38 am
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A number of media outlets are implying that the leading 2016 Democratic presidential candidate lied or contradicted herself in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, but journalists are ignoring that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was responding to a double question.

Politico's Rachel Bade reported Thursday, "According to documents obtained by conservative group Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Clinton was the immediate supervisor who approved the title change that came with the new post on March 23, 2012, permitting her then-deputy chief of staff to work several jobs at once."

"Do you think he had a point in raising the question of whether it was appropriate for her [Huma Abedin] to be taking a State Department salary and also be paid by an outside company, closely associated with your husband, by you?" Mitchell asked Clinton on September 4th, referring to criticism by the leading 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"Well, you know, I was not directly involved in that, but everything that she did was approved under the rules as they existed by the State Department," Clinton responded, but it's unclear if she was referring to the job change, Teneo's hiring of Abedin, or both.

No one from the Clinton campaign appears to have argued specifically otherwise, yet, but they did pursue a different argument.

NY Times journalist Nicholas Confessore reported late Thursday night at 10:03 PM, "A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton declined to comment on the newly released document."

But, as Politico's Rachel Bade noted a few minutes earlier in a 9:58 PM update, "The Clinton Campaign argued Thursday that the document wasn't the actual approval of the SGE status but only approved the title change that came with Abedin's transition. The document states that the position was 'new' and an SGE job: 'The incumbent serves as a Senior Adviser, Expert-Special Government Employee.'"

Hours later, the New York Times, still hasn't updated the article to include the Clinton campaign's response.

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Former Senior Advisor to Obama calls Clinton email scandal 'gobbledygook'

October 2, 2015, 8:26 am
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Yesterday's Washington Times included a commentary I wrote called "A liberal take on the Clinton email scandal: Why the Huma Abedin controversy matters". It doesn't contain links to my sources, so here's the opening, as I originally wrote it:
After promising "change" in America, President Barack Obama officially shut the revolving door on January 21, 2009, in his very first Executive Order (https://www.whitehouse.gov/21stcenturygov/actions/revolving-door).

"Every appointee in every executive agency" was asked to sign this "Ethics Pledge" which would make them "contractually committed...[a]s a condition, and in consideration, of [their] employment in the United States Government in a position invested with the public trust." Commitment to the "obligations" was "binding" and "enforceable under law."

While most of President Obama's Executive Order was devoted to curbing lobbying, there was also a "Revolving Door Ban" which affected "All Appointees Entering Government."

"I will not for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts," all appointees entering government were asked to vow.

After serving as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff, longtime aide Huma Abedin was quietly appointed as a "special government employee" on June 3, 2012. However, according to an email that conservative watchdog Judicial Watch recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Action lawsuit against the State Department, the very next day Abedin claimed that her "new position" would be "identical to [her] old position," even though that appears to be in violation of S.G.E. requirements (http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/new-documents-huma-abedin).
Since Hillary Clinton has apologized for her use of a private email account, and turned over her server, from which the FBI reportedly has already been able to extract emails not turned over to the State Department to fulfill media FOIA and Congressional investigators' requests, it's probably a bad idea for her campaign - or anyone who supports it - to spin everything into a "vast right wing conspiracy". The Associated Press, VICE and Gawker all had unfulfilled FOIA requests, so it's not just Republicans who are on the hunt for emails. At the same time, much of the scandal really involves the White House and State Department, after Clinton left it, since there were plenty of emails on government accounts that should have been turned over before the former State Secretary sent her 30,000 emails late last year.

In today's Washington Post, former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama Dan Pfeiffer - who is now a CNN contributor - pretty much insults all US voters, by referring to the email scandal as "gobbledygook". Clinton's polling numbers have taken a dive, mostly due to the emails, so this is a terrible attempt at spin.

"The [U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi] chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), has maintained that its work was a neutral examination of the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks," Philip Rucker and Robert Costa report. "But ['likely next House speaker, Majority Leader Kevin' McCarthy (R-Calif.)'] told Fox News host Sean Hannity: 'Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s un-trustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought.'"
With Clinton struggling to gain momentum in the Democratic nominating fight, McCarthy’s comments amount to a unifying force for the party to rally to her defense, as well as give her an opening to do what she is most comfortable doing: fighting back against Republicans.

“I think it will pull people together,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Obama. “The e-mail situation is a complicated one. . . . All of that is gobbledygook to the American people, but political motivation is easily understood.”
Wackadoo is one of my favorite words, since it's from a hilarious line in one of my favorite films, "The Pope of Greenwich Village", but "gobbledygook" is a pretty cool word, too, even when it's insultingly used.

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Democrats spin 'as if it were classified' into 'as classified'

October 6, 2015, 9:02 am
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Clearly, the phrases "as if it were classified" and "as classified" are not the same, however, as, Caitlin MacNeal reports at the liberal blog Talking Points Memo, "Noting House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) comment last week about the Benghazi committee's political success, Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Monday circumvented Republicans on the panel to release details from one of the committee's private interviews with a former aide to Hillary Clinton."

"On September 29, 2015, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy admitted during a nationally televised interview on Fox News that House Republicans created the Benghazi Select Committee from the very beginning to wage a taxpayer-funded political campaign against Hillary Clinton’s bid for president. Obviously, this is an unethical abuse of millions of taxpayer dollars and a crass assault on the memories of the four Americans who were killed in Benghazi," the Democrats began in a letter to Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), the chairman of the select committee, referencing the majority leader's statements last week.

In the letter, Reps. Elijah Cumming (D-MD), Adam Smith (D-WA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), said that the way Republicans on the committee went about their work shows how political their investigation has been."
Last week, apparently without fact-checking, some members of the media - including The New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal - seemingly repeated the bogus (See The Hill) Clinton campaign assertion that Benghazi was the longest House Committee probe ever. Salon Deputy Politics Editor Sophia Tesfaye - who is also a researcher for Media Matters For America (who have defended the Clintons for a long time, as I reported with RAW STORY in 2006: "Senator Clinton made personal phone calls to raise money for ‘nonpartisan’ defender, employees say"), according to her LinkedIn resume - went further and compared it to investigations such as the Hurricane Katrina, Warren Commission, and Iran-Contra probes, without noting that most consider those probes too short or cover-ups of scandals. Ms. Tesfaye ignored tweets I sent her asking about this, but she - at least - updated her Salon story, while the Rosenthal editorial at The New York Times remains uncorrected.

A correction was finally added to Rosenthal's column eight days after it was published, after I Tweeted Anna North - who "writes on cultural topics for the editorial page and is the editor of [The New York Times' editorial page editor's] blog": "When you edited @andyrNYT column with bogus Benghazi probe claim, did you fact-check? Will you fix? @annanorthtweets http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/10/democrats-spin-as-if-it-were-classified.html". However, I still think the correction should contain an explanation, especially since it appears to be based on a Clinton 2016 talking point.

And now, this week, the campaign and friendly journalists and bloggers are effectively using McCarthy's assertion to push back on a scandal that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton apologized over, and the FBI is still investigating.

Look at the way TPM [Editor's Note: I originally called TPM "a blog connected to the Media Matters machine" based on memory, but I can't find any evidence TPM founder Josh Marshall ever worked there, just that both he and many Media Matters and TPM staffers were once on the controversial JournoList together. Also, TPM certainly isn't a blog.] handles this letter, compared to the non-partisan political website, The Hill: "Defying the orders of Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the Democrats on Monday released portions of a secret transcript containing the testimony of Cheryl Mills, a Clinton aide and confidante,"

Even though TPM linked to The Hill article, MacNeal didn't even quote the response that Julian Hattem obtained from a Gowdy spokesperson:
"'Most Democrats on the Benghazi Committee have endorsed Clinton, and they are now running a protection effort for the former secretary,' said Jamal Ware, a spokesman for Gowdy.

'It is one thing to merely sit idly by while others do serious work, it is quite another to attempt to undercut that work with selective leaks in violation of House Rules.'"
I'm publishing a key portion of the Democrats' letter, from this link, to show how it spins "as if it were classified" into "as classified", in a propagandistic attempt to defend charges that Clinton and colleagues were emailing information that was later marked classified through, to, and over a private email server.

However, I pretty much agree that the Cheryl Mills and Sidney Blumenthal interviews should be released to the public, and any classified info could be redacted. Both sides are in the wrong and acting in a hyper-partisan manner.

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My DMs with Anthony Weiner on Swattings and Trump troll who claims he sexted her

October 18, 2015, 11:57 am
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Hi, I'm really sorry to disturb you so late at night...but let's not pretend you don't know who I am...since I broke the story about your staffer before anyone else...and I was really fair about it...i only reported on the money stuff and made slight allusion to anything else...that's not really my thing...but this is obviously too big a story...and you know damn well how i've been menaced for four years since reporting on you.
Sep 23

I'm giving you a chance to respond to this story....you can see the tweets i already published...

i'll even give you a chance to completely kill this story.

But that will obviously involve you talking to me on the phone...and stop ignoring me.

I've been falsely accused of crimes for four years since reporting on you.
Sep 23

Okay...so i know about google plus...i know you traded tweets
Sep 23

This person threatened me with false arrest...and trolled me...and trolled conservative critics of Trump.

You've got a very short window to at least respond. I don't believe at all that you are not reading these DMs
Sep 23

We had a long DM conversation. That's the last thing I'm telling you.
Sep 23

Hey, catching up. Who is this?
Sep 23

You know who this is.

I was falsely accused of SWAttings because I worked on NYT story.
Sep 23

Are you a reporter?
Sep 23

You know who I am.
Sep 23

Oh, what bureau?
Sep 23

Yes. I'm independent...and I'm working with a media outlet on this story..and on other stories.
Sep 23

Brother, it's been a long day with no food. What's up?
Sep 23

You even deliberately left me out of your response to a Washington Post reporter the other day.

Check my timeline.

And I'm sure you know I've done lots of stories on Hillary Clinton. That Judicial Watch did a story on my work recently, too.
Sep 23

No need. I believe you. Kinda exhausted.
Sep 23

And I bet you've read every single article I've ever published on you.

Cool...understood.

We can talk tomorrow. I'll wait.

I don't really care about this kind of stuff. I care about being smeared with crimes for four years because I reported a fake teen monitored you on Twitter.

I was sued for millions of dollars since reporting on you.
Sep 23

Wow. That sucks. Is that what this is about? A deposition in a law suit?
Sep 23

I worked with Jennifer Preston on the story about fake teens monitoring you. She screwed me over. Patterico smeared you as a pedophile.

And falsely accused me of SWattings.
Sep 23

I know you know who I am. So, anyway, this person who claims to be a Trump supporter says you sent it explicit pics.
Sep 23

Ok. Some of this is Greek to me. So you need something to clear you name or something? Sorry to be dense.
Sep 23

Okay well we can talk on phone then. I just don't believe you don't know who I am...you proved it when you responded over me the other day.
Sep 23

A trump supporter doesn't narrow much down nowadays. I responded to you? Ok.
Sep 23

I've been reporying on you for four years.....100 congressmen and a senator complained to Attorney General Holder about SWATgate which was completely related to you.
Sep 23

What is swatgate?
Sep 23

My life has been ruined...but I still bust my ass reporting. I'm a fair reporter
Sep 23

I think you are assuming way too much knowledge by me on stuff.
Sep 23

Okay. Fine.
Sep 23

Ok. Can I help?
Sep 23

Yes. You could have helped me four years ago, for one.

But lets either talk about what's on my twitter account now...or we can talk about everything before it.
Sep 23

Ok. I'm gonna go to sleep. If I can help nowadays, let me know.
Sep 23

This person claims you sent it explicit pictures. I know you traded tweets. I know they were on your google plus account.
Sep 23

Who?
Sep 23

You want to play dumb about SWATtings and pretend you don't know who I am then I will just move on this story instead.

Dude you know how to use twitter.

Tammy Weslowski
Sep 23

My man, it's late. I have to take my boy to school in the am. I'm offering to help.

Ooooh. Hah. Ok.
Sep 23

I've interviewed Weiss, Cordova and
Sep 23

Okay, so, again, I'd rather talk about Cordova and the fake teens etc. and the swatting crimes I'm accused of and not report on this Weslowski story...
Sep 23

Just please answer me one question, first. Did New York Times journalist Jennifer Preston contact you about the fake teens story before or even after? She didn't mention it.

We had enough to run a story before you resigned from Congress.

She oddly ran the entire story the day after you quit...and didn't even mention if she ever attempted to contact you. I can give you a link to that story now to refresh your memory.
Sep 23

On fake teens? My memory is she did a story right as it was breaking.
Sep 23

I've been investigating who created those trolls and Dan Wolfe for over four years.
Sep 23

One person did that?

Did Preston do the story debunking the teen in Pennsylvania story?

Or Delaware.

I had you muted btw. Sorry.
Sep 23


sorry laptop issues.
Sep 23

God. This doesn't even ring a bell. A bit of a shitstorm then.

Ok so what is the issue?

Is this story wrong?
Sep 23

no that was jan winter ...but we
Sep 23

Well, it would take hours to talk about everything that happened to me since reporting on that story with Preston. The blogger was smearing you as a pedophile.
Sep 23

Are you involved in a law suit? If I can help, I will.

But I am not up the ass of all that stuff like you might assume.
Sep 23

And an entire shitstorm erupted after you resigned that the media ignored...until 2012 when it changed from Swattings related to you to swattings related to Brett Kimberlin, a convicted bomber.
Sep 23

Wtf? Connected to me?!
Sep 23

Yes understood. I was sued once in 2012 for

I was sued in 2012 for millions by this crazy blogger who was represented by Dan Backer, the lawyer in McCutcheon...but more importantly im smeared as an attempted murderer

I'll give you a link to that now.
Sep 23

Ok. May I suggest something?
Sep 23


Sure. But I'm killing a big story now...to talk to you..and we can continue tomorrow. Because I know you got a toddler.
Sep 23

Reads a bit nutty. If you need me to give a deposition or something, I will. But none of that story rings a bell.
Sep 23

I don't really care about the Weslowski thing...if someone else wants to pursue that...let them. I do want to talk to you in length about stuff that happened to me and how I was screwed over...and your interactions with Cordova.

I mean related to the trolls
Sep 23

I don't care about sex crap...that's personal stuff... I did think you should resign for lying....but again my life has been severely screwed with since reporting with Preston...who screwed me over.

And I have lots of questions. I'll never stop until I figure out who was behind the teens and Dan Wolfe...I'm fairly certain it was Patterico.
Sep 23

I'm not interesting in relitigating my scandal. Te damage is done. I've never talked about the women involved. Even the ones that weren't truthful. I made this bed. But if I can help make sure the damage to you is mitigated, I will gladly help.
Sep 23

Deputy DA FRey in California

Yeah...I don't care about any of that...all i care about is Cordova. I think sheworked with Patterico.
Sep 23

I don't know any of those people. But don't be glad to talk.

I'd be glad to talk.
Sep 23

Gennette Cordova
Sep 23

Do you work for a paper now?
Sep 23

The one you sent pic, too..
Sep 23

Yes. Her I knew. Duh.
Sep 23

I already told you I am working with multiple media organizations now.

But I'm independent. And it's late we can talk tomorrow if you want.
Sep 23

Yeah. Cool.
Sep 23

Okay, take care. Good night. Just contact me when you have time.
Sep 23

Where do you work from?

DC?
Sep 23

NYC
Sep 23

Oh. So we must have met. Worked for the nyt during my scandal?
Sep 23

I worked with Preston not for the times directly...you can see my profile right?

she promised me pay for story.

she screwed me over...i got falsely accused of crimes...menaced harassed for four year...sued...blacklisted...slandered

I ran RAW STORY for four years.
Sep 23

In 2011 I worked on stories with Mother Jones, MSNBC and NYT.....then after the SWATtings i've been accused of being a criminal by the right...and slandered as crazy by the left. Now I've gotten tons of links for my reporting on your wife, Hillary Clinton and Teneo.
Sep 23

But I still can't earn a penny...and I can't even find a regular job because I am slandered all over the net.

Anyway...we can talk more tomorrow.

I'd rather talk about that than do a story on Weslowski....who is out of her mind.

And I am hoping to pursue legal action against Patterico for slanderring me and menacing me. I think he committed the swattings himself...i think he was behind the fake teens...and dan wolfe

And i think Cordova worked with him.
Sep 23

And Preston really screwed me over. I didn't get a dime...and she slandered me, too..and she lied about how twitter was probing the hacking of the fake teen's account.
Sep 23

And I'm a fair reporter I report on both sides. I'm liberal...I report hard on Clintons but I like them.

it's not right what happened to me.
Sep 23

But, anyway, lets talk tomorrow. Just DM me when you have time. Thanks. I appreciate you talking to me.
Sep 23

And I'm even gonna delete my last two tweets now.
Sep 23

Okay...just wanted to tell you that I'm working with the Daily Dot....it's an online website you can google if you want. Good night.
Sep 23

I'll try ya today. Prob late morning if that works.
Sep 24

I have to head to a lunch soon.
Sep 24

hi
Sep 24

I read your feed. Wtf, dude?
Sep 24

well there's not any urgency....there was on the initial story...but not on the countless other stuff
Sep 24

I can give ya 20 mins now.
Sep 24

Okay. Cool.
Sep 24

All on background and anything you want for the record, you can ask specifically. Agreed?
Sep 24

Yes...that's pretty much the way I work. But I don't want to ambush you .....so let me just add that I do work with conservative journos too...and if you really don't know who I am I've done tough reporting on Teneo and your wife and Clintons.
Sep 24

Yeah. I read the feed, not the stories. A lot of total crap.

But this is for a daily dot story?
Sep 24

And unlike other journos....I know that everyone lies and I trust my head and research more than sources..a.nd if I'm lied to or someone leaks something i say or screws me over publicly, the confidentiality is off...but ill give you a chance to respond.

But you're talking to a liberal journo who doesn't demonize the right wing media and works with it, sometimes.
Sep 24

I will talk to you under the rules above. Not some rolling reevaluation of the agreement.
Sep 24

Agreed.
Sep 24

Number?
Sep 24

Well, since I began probing who created the "fake teen" accounts, and Dan Wolfe, the one who saw the Tweet I've been harassed etc. so that's my main focus. And I want to ask you about Preston first.
Sep 24

K
Sep 24


Sep 24

When you have time....it would be easier for us to continue if you read this story so you can have background on Patterico, Swatgate, the crimes I"m falsely accused of, and how it relates to you. Deputy D.A. John Patrick Frey is "Patterico". This will read like long conspiritorial nonsense, but there are still million dollar lawsuits going back and forth with Brett Kimberlin - on the left - and these crazies on the right led by a De[uty D.A. who oddly isn't fired even though he falsely accuses many of crimes and a judge just recently ruled that Kimberlin had a case that Patterico may be using his office to entrap him.

Sep 24

and this is the judge's recent ruling ....kimberlin is resuing patterioc.....Kimberlin is suing patterico mainly because he was accused in media of being behind the swattings...while i'm the one actually accused of doing them...because of absurd claims I'm in a conspiracy with Kimberlin and the left.

Sep 24

And believe it or not, the AP, Politico, Daily Beast, Slate, Salon, Fox News have all reported on this stuff...and they all ignore me and leave me out of the narrative - although I'm the one who is fingered as the "attempted murderer"...and they link to Patterico's blog and treat him just as an innocent victim. 100 Congressman and a Senator asked AG Holder to probe these SWATtings. They remain unsolved. I'm still smeared as the culprit. The FBI refuses to talk to me about any of this.
Sep 24

An FBI agent in Dallas, Texas met with Patterico and allegedly agreed I'm the SWATter...and that same agent also met with Patterico about Barrett Brown - a journalist who worked with Anonymous and was arrested in September 2012 - and falsely testified that Barrett was involved in these SWAttings. Brown got 5 year sentence for threats against another FBI agent which he made under duress partly due to Patterico and Neal Rauhauser.

thanks, talk to you later
Sep 24

Np. Later.
Sep 24

omg these trolls...this trump supporter who i contacted you about that claims you sexted her. is making absurd threats again.

Sep 24

Law enforcement knows. I'd totally ignore. Btw, I emailed my press secretary from '11 about Preston.
Sep 24

You know what makes no sense? How can Attorney General Holder and FBI be probing swattings all related to you but never contact you about them? And Preston knew about them in 2011 but never reported on them. She also lied and claimed Twitter was probing the "fake teen" and said it was hacked....but it was a lie...twitter doesn't tell journos that..they only work with law enforcement.

She dropped story. She was harassed by Patterico. She asked me to defend our story on Twitter. He stopped harassing her and never did again and just harassed me

She publicly thanked all the breitbart weirdos like patterico but not me....and slandered me instead...lied about nytimes getting calls from creditors about me.
Sep 24

And since i was on the phone with patterico when it happened and im allegedly a suspect it makes no sense that four years later not one cop or fbi agent will talk to me about this.....im a witness, too..yet no one contacts me...jeez.
Sep 24

you've already been an enormous help...and helped fill in blanks....and disprove theories...thank you...ill talk to you when you have more time again.
Sep 24

Did they ever formally investigate the swattings? Seems like a public safety imperative, no?
Sep 24

"If you don't take my name off your wall with that mans name ! I will have you arrested ASAP ! I've had enough of you !!" DM from Weslow

um...i have no clue....patterico attacked the fbi...for not really

holder ignored letter from 100 congressmen
Sep 24

Isn't that crazy?!
Sep 24

um, yes

but the whole obama-clinton relationship is, too
Sep 24

The fbi didn't investigate cause a law enforcement guy was involved?

Isn't that crazy?!

The fbi didn't investigate cause a law enforcement guy was involved?
Sep 24

mike stack claims that no fbi agent would talk to him..he was first swatting victim
Sep 24

patterico claims la fbi fucked with him..only texas fbi was helpful...but they couldn't do anything

and both patterico and rauhauser claim FBI special agent allyn lynd is their contact

And Lynd falsely testifed at Barrett Brown hearing denying him bail....that there was evidence on computers claiming he was involvved in the swattings

Wanna hear the best part?

Patterico claims Lynd is a fan of his blog.
Sep 24

The fbi tries to recruit every hacker they arrest...for all i know this is just related to years of FBI probes of Anonymous and Bradley Manning...everything is so bizarre.

Now the State Department is going after Hillary....when they're the ones defying the court....wapo runs terriblearticles...so does the nyt...only politico is decent
Sep 24

State is just incompetent.

Your take on Huma is utter crap btw.
Sep 24

fair enough...im willing to completely hear others side, apologize make corrections..

unlike other journos i have no problems making corrections, apologizing...all i care about is truth.

i sure wish i conatacted you years ago...presumed you wouldn't talk to me...you'venever responded to my tweets..but you get so many....

i didn't realize you had open dm
Sep 24

that wapo journo should have fixed his story and apologized...instead he just called you mean lol
Sep 24

judicial watch did big story on my reporting...if i got stuff wrong...again....im williing to fix etc

Sep 24

I had you on mute. Sorry bro.
Sep 24

i do apologize for anything i've tweeted personally about you.....but its been four years of stress and no one has helped me.
Sep 24

It sounds like hell. I feel bad for my part.
Sep 24

Thank you.

It's been worse than hell...but I've never stopped reporting...and I am right aboutmany things ;0
Sep 24

omg this person is def the worst ever...that's her real name by the way.

"So watch it ! I JUST may be the police looking for men trolling on young boys"

I"m not talking to it...it just keeps sending me DMs.....I don't want to block since obviously she might say something more incriminating. And she attacked famous people who have bashed Trump.
Sep 24

She is being watched. Ignore it.

You grow up in bk?
Sep 24

I was born in queens but i grew up in newburgh....do you know where that is in orange county? ive lived in nyc though since 93.
Sep 24

Do you need the tweets she sent about you? I have them saved still.
Sep 24

She deleted them. But, yes, I'm never going to respond. I'm just going to save what she sends. Generally people who use their real name don't act like this. You should see our whole interview.
Sep 24

I know Newburgh. My best friend in college was from washingtonville.
Sep 24

yes...that's very close.
Sep 24

Morning. When you asked me the other day if there was anything exculpatory you could do I couldn't think of anything at the moment. But perhaps you could listen to the bullshit youtube video made claiming I sound like the SWatter, read the cherry-picked audio expert report he slandered me with, and help me with all the liberals or reporters like Dave Weigel (who completely smeared me at Slate) who pretend that I'm crazy....and make a tweet about this crap?

Not one liberal journo publicly defended or quoted me in story. The 3rd swatting of Erick Erickson who went on CNN and lied referring to me was on 1 year anniversary of Weinergate. And Patterico NEVER published his police report, which is fishy.
Sep 25

Where you ever charged with a crime or sued?
Sep 25

I was only interviewed by two media outlets....politico and la weekly....and they both left me out of story...and didn't quote me....not one place quoted me except Dave weigel who completely smeared me, published off the record email from me....and lied. He is PALS with the people who falsely sued me.....Dan Backer's crew....and I wanted Slate to assign someone else to story because of his bias...instead he pretended i didn't want them to report on the story at all.
Sep 25

I was falsely arrested in the 90s. My was abducted and raped in Florida from a bar. The police did nothing, I yelled at them. They pretended I was drunk...i was in cell for hour, bail was a dollar...days later it was expunged

Someone somehow got that report. and posted it at Patterico website (probably him!) even though no cop has ever seen it.
Sep 25

He told me about it on phone jujst before the swatting....acted like he was my hero for deleting it...and never mentioned that it was done to me when he smeared me for next four years....His job refused to probe to see if he illegally used work computer to find it.
Sep 25

It's all over the net. Anonymous biggest twitter account doxed me in 2012. They posted that report too....they tweeted it to million and a half followers and called this operation

they told 1.5 million people to kill me....posted what they thought was my currernt address and Twitter never even suspended them....and refused to when i again asked them last month.
Sep 25

is that account....its bullshit...im the only person Anonymous told to Kill and no one has even reported it.
Sep 25

it would take hours to tell you all the horrible things done to me since i wouldn't stop reporting on created fake teens to smear you as a pedophile. I was BY FAR you biggest defender against that smear.
Sep 25

And yes I was sued twice already over this nonsnse...and IRS is coming after me...even though i cant find work after 4 years because of this
Sep 25

RAW STORY sued me....because i broke NDA to defend myself. I was smeared because of their ties to Brett Kimberlin. They allegedly got 500,000 default judgement against me. I ran site for four years, worked there for six...they refused to dfend me.....and ignored all this... And the crazy people sued me in Virgina over this using Dan Backer, the tea party lawyer in SuperPAC supreme court case.....judge tossed it out of court.
Sep 25

Everyone knows its a lie....that I'm a swatter or crazy....but i'm hated for many reasons. I report on both sides and criticize media. There are probably 100 corrections at other media outlets on 100 journos' stories because i complained to their editors after they ignore my critiicism.
Sep 25

Not one NYC outlet reported on swattings. Azi Paybarah has mocked me when I complained. First three of the four swattings are all related to weinergate...the fourth one is almost definitely fake and was used to just smear kimberlin himself.
Sep 25

its implied i did them all....i get falsely accused by people anytime anyone is swatted.....im infamous on web because of this crap....it has ruined my life.
Sep 25

I should have gotten lawyer in 2011 when i had money and sued...FBI has ignored multiple complaints ive made....ive tried to report myself out of this crap for four years....now that i think i know who did it...i desperately need lawyer....i lost my wallet a few weeks ago, too...i cant even look for a non journo job now..and im practically starving.
Sep 25

meanwhile....the walll street journal reports on stories i broke today....and even though i get lots of journos mostly on the right to cover my reporting now and i work with them...no one will pay me a dime.
Sep 25

And I'm fair in my stories. Today's story defends Hillary Clinton related to your wife. You might not like all my opinions...but my reporting is fair.
Sep 25

Had all the jousting with others damaged your ability to work freelance?
Sep 25

patterico's motive to commit swattings himself was to smear you as a pedophile...the only two reporters still working on weinergate when he was swatted were me and lee stranahan....he was posting fake dms by the fake teens'"father" after i helped prove with the NYTimes it was a hoax...he got us both to shut up essentially so that he could post more.
Sep 25

patterico is the one who got credit for deleware girl smear against you.......and the reporter who went to her house used the fake teens fake dad as a source...it was most probably patterico..as soon as she got there the cops showed up and grabbed computer which probably meant the source called them.
Sep 25

Jeeez
Sep 25

everyone pretends they can't pay me lol.....that they're broke or some shit.....its the way the media is......im ignored when i apply for jobs because they google me...and reporters basically exploit me...Jennifer Preston promised to get me paid....she lied...we were supposed to do future stories....she lied.....look at top of my twitter account thats' her dm to me day after you quit when story ran...promising me mpay
Sep 25

It doesn't say promised brother.
Sep 25

i have other emails...she promised to ask...she never did

she promised to write story about me......she never did

we were supposed to meet for lunch...after she lied and said twitter told her the fake teens account was hacked.....and they were giving her proof....twitter doesn't do that

and she dropped story and never reported on swattings.

she said she was "going dark" to report on this.

she's a loon.

Read this.

Sep 25

See how she never even contacted her before publishing story after lying bout why she contacted her? I'm the one who connected that woman to the fake twitter teens.
Sep 25

And if you read the Preston ny times story....the fake teens had fake drivers license etc.....she never posted proof of that nor did mediaite...they never told police.....and whomever did swattings has to be same person who did that.

she has evidence that could help find swatter

or made it up.
Sep 25

And the nytimes story defends Tommy Christopher at mediaite...who smeared the first swatting victim using those fake teens.. tommy christopher acted crazily any time someone questioned him about it....after i disproved it.....i outed his real name and he threatened to sue me. Mediaite refused to fix articles inferring you contacted high school GIRLS (plural) and they smeared me even though i disproved their hoax......its absurd.
Sep 25

oh and patterico and crazy blogger who sued me claim i work for you. the crazy blogger just said it last month...he is suing maryland and brett kimberlin for millions now....and his lawsuit lies and says that audio report says 90 percent im the swatter...when it actually absolves me... the whole thing is nonsesne...i have tons of proof that i wasn't in conspiracy with rauhauser and kimberlin....Preston recommende rauhauser as a source to me....his daily kos diaries were insane.....then she sent me dm saying he was "dangerous" and wouldn't explain why...then i found out she met with him a few months later.
Sep 25

patterico made me a patsy to create confusion and so no one could really report on this or figure it out. And I'm the only way he could "tie" it to kimberlin.
Sep 25

i didnt even contact kimberlin until october of 2011 and he lied to me constantly claiming he wasn't working with rauhauser.......its bizarre...both sides came after me for crap i didn't do.
Sep 25

Neal RAuhauser is an fbi informant...he tries to entrap hackers or push people to commit crimes...

he was in Project Vigilant with Adrian Lamo when Lamo talked to manning......he was in infragard too
Sep 25

Neal Rauhauser poses as me on IRC...he gave my social security number to a troll who tweeted it....he had tried to get me to use that account and talk to hackers. I've never even made an internet phone call.
Sep 25

everyone on the left knows its a lie that i work with rauhauser.....because ive gone after all the democrats and anonymous hackers who worked with him....he is a genius at recruiting people to do shit....
Sep 25

this all sounds like crazy conspiracy shit...but its all real...its all on the web...anyone can research this..but no legitimate conservative reporter or blogger likes those crazies anymore....they mostly like me now lol....breitbart news links to my stories.
Sep 25

On some level you have to shed these fuckers.
Sep 25

i cant...employers google me....rooommates and landlords...

I try to move on...but im starving now

i was evicted months ago..my roommate is being nice...

i get international attention for my reporting...but cant make a dime

and cant find a nonjourno job even though i was store manager before becoming a journalist
Sep 25

Yeah, but your skill is correcting the narrative. Plenty of time to do that.
Sep 25

i'm an swesome researcher...and find things no one else can...and im a born skeptic...and i theorize....those are my top skills....thats partly why its hard to find work, too...no one hires researchers really.

I'm really close to getting my journo career back , though.
Sep 25

Good
Sep 25

i've broken so many stories...i was first to report you were mulling mayor ...and i reporeted you moved campaign headquarters to nyc first..the post plagiarized me...i proved ann coulter was a plagiarist twice...got national attention and the ny post hired a plagiarims expert to confirm it and didn't even credit me for finding it in first place lol
Sep 25

1st swatting is to guy who sent stuff to Breitbart about fake teens. 2nd swatting to guy who claims it was done to stop him from reporting on you, 3rd swatting is on anniversary of the infamous tweet....but FBI never even contact you? That is bizarro.
Sep 25

obviously the swatter has some kind of obsession with you ....they never contacted you to see if anyone crazy emailed your or tweeted you..never asked you about fake teens who almost definitely did swattings
Sep 25

In 2012, Patterico essentially changed narrative from Swattings being related to you....just to go after Kimberlin....heres a link to congress asking them to probe...Patterico and the others lie about the first swatting....Mike Stack NEVER blogged about Kimberlin..and he hates Patterico.

Sep 25

patterico also claimed fbi "lost" or was too slow to get phone records to another call related to swattings. there are emails on interent from kimberlin lawsuits that show Patterico trying to get others to entrap Kimberlin. And he claims FBI special agent allyn lynd would arrest me if he was in charge of case....just for a tweet!
Sep 25

patterico menaced me....threatened me...accused me of crimes...broke a california law calling me incessantly...then when i finally spoke to him again on phone after swatting...we were on phone for hour and a half...he didn't ask me one question...i think he was just recording my voice. He pushed me to make a dumb tweet...but i thought he was hacked he was so crazy...and i wanted to see if he would claim a perfectly legal tweet was an actionable threat....instead it backfired and was used to villify me. I said "I would like to punch him in face etc." because he was falsely accusing me of crimes and harassing me.
Sep 25

anyway...ill talk to you more when you get a chance...thanks for listening..
Sep 25

oh this is completely off the record....obviously like everything else for now...but i am very fair...i complained to washington times last night about their "double dipping" headline referring to your wife. Opinions and articles are different. That headline is bogus.
Sep 25

Hi, I know Grassley and conservative media have been wrongfully claiming Huma was paid $335K because of a stupid Fox News copy and paste job. And based on what you told the NYT, she could have only made 10 to 30K at most in 2011. Haberman is claiming she got $105K. Is that true? Why did she get paid so much for one only one month in 2012?

it just dropped:
Sep 28

One month?
Sep 28

i thought she only worked January to february 1st for teneo in 2012.

it's still shorter than the time in 2011 if it was 2 months.
Sep 28

She worked for more than 1 month.

I don't know the calendar years tho.
Sep 28

i'm off by a year, sorry....2012 and 2013....ah okay...but she still seems to have gotten more for shorter time in 2013.
Sep 28

I never finished story about Senator Grassley wrongfully overclaiming Abedin salary due to Fox News article because i have laptop issues lol....

i always wondered why you both didn't respond to that.

they can't add lol
Sep 28

We released our taxes. What more can we do? Hah.
Sep 28

It did look a little bad, i thought.
Sep 28

They combined both our incomes for that year I guess.
Sep 28


they just trusted a stupid fox news copy and paste job...Grassley cites it in countless letters to Huma.

They think it was a fox news exclusive lol
Sep 28

Grassley has been intentionally wrong about a lot. Btw, didn't she file her outside income?
Sep 28

yep...that's exactly what they did.

i mean combine your income stupidly.

and make the mistake that it was all from Teneo lol
Sep 28

On the other hand I think nyc reporters reported it all as mine when they wanted to do "fat cat" stories on me.
Sep 28

probably...it was a complicated story...that's why i never finished it.

Did you ever work for teneo? if not, why not?
Sep 28

obviously this is all off the record still...just filling in blanks.....i wont publish a word about anything without confirming with you first...and its the swattings i care about more
Sep 28

Who me? No. I didn't want to work for anyone. Now you understand why.
Sep 28

ahhh that makes sense.
Sep 28

See what happened with mww. That's after 5 years!
Sep 28

Do you know what happened to CureMD owner?
Sep 28

oh...i thought you just got hired by mww? you did some consulting for them going back to 2011
Sep 28

Kamal?
Sep 28



RIP Kamal Hashmat - CEO CureMD, such a tragic incident, may God bless you. Our deep condolences to the family
yes

he had some kind of drowning accident allegedly
Sep 28

im not obviously making conspiratorial point...just curious if you heard
Sep 28

Of course. I'm close to the family. Horrible.
Sep 28

yeah
Sep 28

oh so you know about preston...our last argument was why she wasn't reporting on threats to conservatives...the first swatting victim mike stack got a threat for talking to her. He's quoted in article....then he got swatted and told her...she kept it quiet...patterico allegedly got threats for not dropping story...then she mysteriously dropped story...patterico got swatted...i told her in phone message...patterico didn't go public until 2012...she never reported or tweeted about any of that.
Sep 28

and it was over her story....and she allegedly got fake drivers license from tommy christopher at mediaite who wrote 4 page story smearing you as a pedophile and mike stack too...that's what i disproved

Tommy Christopher once was able to ask hillary clinton a question in press conference first by masking his phone number and pretending it was coming from a different journo...same thing used in swattings.
Sep 28

it's fishy stuff...but not necessarily all a conspiracy etc...just the fbi might not care about swattinigs since they all happened to conservatives....and i do think patterico did them with perhaps only 1 or 2 co-conspirators
Sep 28

Yeah. Not my knowledge.
Sep 28

Well, I'm still smeared over this...Mike Stack was victimized...and perhaps Patterico is a victim if he's not the culprit. And Erick Erickson was swatted on 1 year anniversary of your tweet. I was hoping you could hire someone to investigate....or call on fbi....or maybe i can just do story and quote you about how you just learned all this and it's weird how fbi never contacted you.

Any of those things would help me.
Sep 28

Why would I be a person of interest to the fbi in this? What's the weiner connection?
Sep 28

I might get sued again.....those are crazy people still suing each other back and forth.

I told you that Mike STack got threat for talking to nyt about the fake teens...then he kept talking and he got swatted

patterico got swatted for not dropping story....and erick erickson on anniversary.....all three of those swattings are directly related to you and that fake teen who preston and christopher allegedly have fake ids from.
Sep 28

If he was talking about the mets they wouldn't interview the team. I'm a tangent.

or even if you believe the lie that i did it...then they claim i did it working for you
Sep 28

Well that isn't true
Sep 28

I'm pretty sure it's not...unless you're check to me got lost in mail....the crazy person who sued me for millions...

still claims that i covered for you
Sep 28

"Covering for me" is not the same as saying you worked for me.
Sep 28

patterico said that i directly worked for you
Sep 28

i called on you to resign and i knew the tweets were real....crazy person was allegedly 4th swatting victim

but that was just to tie it to kimberlin....patterico probably did all 4

Well then if you don't feel any responsibility for any of this....can i quote your reactions?

That would at least give me a great story.
Sep 28

You'd have to ask me questions I can answer.

But sure.
Sep 28

awesome. well obviously i want the wtf quote first lol.

i don't know what story im going to have...if he ends up screwing me over maybe ill do weslowski anyway Sep 24 Ron Brynaert And an entire shitstorm erupted after you resigned that the media ignored...until 2012 when it changed from Swattings related to you to swattings related to Brett Kimberlin, a convicted bomber. 40m 41 minutes ago Anthony Weiner Wtf? Connected to me?!

"WTF," Weiner responds to SWATgate, reveals that FBI never contacted him

im thinking of something like that for headline

But I can also write out specific questions and email you...based on our convos and you can take time to think over etc.
Sep 28

since politico reported on this...and i have a contact there...i'm going to pitch this to them instead so you know....

i just want to get paid for a story lol

and this will be big one...and help me get people to look at me as a journo again.
Sep 28

and the main reason the fbi should have contacted you is because im allegedly the suspect....to see if i had contacts...and the fake teen should be the suspect..and you definitely dealt with it. Whomever did these crimes are obsessed with you...

since they remain unsolved...it's pathetic that they didn't talk to you, me or preston or christopher.
Sep 28

and mike rogers was swatted too....rauhauser is obsessed with him...and he said that he wanted Rogers out of Congress with a giant Anonymous footprint on his back.

oh and frey's wife is a DA too..she handles sex crimes for la county...so two officials were swatted
Sep 28

What is that first thing?
Sep 28

oh sorry which first thing?

oh the reaction was wtf....but actually lol

i have something else instead....now
Sep 28

I'm working with
Sep 28

Sep 28

um....wtf that's why i stopped working with him

that guy never even spoke to an editor...and told me to tell you i can say i was doing story with daily dot

i can send you our entire dm convo...if he took out of context dms

my word is my bond.

and weslowski would have just been about the troll's claims...not reporting you had an affair with her.

she's a crazy liar.
Sep 28

that guy is a scumbag....he had no right to leak anything after i told him i didn't trust him and didn't want to even pitch to daily dot because of it

you can't trust anyone in this business

I just told  i was talking to you...only two journos on planet know

and you contacted law enforcement about her

i told him that, too.
Sep 28

that was after my dm...which is out of context..and that was our arrangement anyway....if you lie to me or fuck me over publicly our dms wouldn't be off the record...we both agreed to that.
Sep 28

i still am not going to publish anything you told me unless you lie to me...or fuck me over publicly...that dm doesn't contradict that

i mean you told me lots of things that i could use for lots of great stories already...

and i wouldn't publish a word unless you lie or fuck me over publicly
Sep 28

the state department line was gold
Sep 28

What do you mean when you keep saying fuck your over?
Sep 28

if you tweeted, Ron is crazy

something like that.

personally attacked me.

that or lying are the only two reasons i ever would break confidence...both happen ALL THE TIME to me.

and i barely ever have reported on dms even when it did happen.
Sep 28

as far as im concerned once you said that law enforcement was watching that crazy person who is claiming i solicited her cousin to go to gay bar and scares the hell out of me

i lost any interest in ever reporting about her....

sure as hell don't believe her.

again..you're speaking to someone who broke the new york observer story about dolev azaria

i never reported you had an affair with her.

my stories were just about how much she got paid to close an office...i reported you lived next door to her...and the column you had dinner with matt damon.

but that sex stuff doesn't interest me in reporting.

i've done like 50 stoires on you maybe...how many were on sexting?
Sep 28

those guys all slander me on the left...i only have like one contact there..and im liberal.

a big reason im hated is because i will work with both sides and report on both sides.
Sep 28

if you dont trust me now...ill forward you our entire convo

because he obviously did fuck me over and lied
Sep 28

just to sabotage me...i told him i didn't want to work with him because he never contacted an editor at daily dot
Sep 28

i said after i publish a story and its big i will probably tweet that daily dot could have had it.
Sep 28

and since i told you i was working with daily dot...i was mad he never spoke to an editor...

i'll also tell you otr....

and im trusting you with that.....i never had to resign from congress for lying.
Sep 28

i'm a fair reporter and i work with real reporters...if you're just going to ignore me now based on a dude with no journalism background really....its dumb....i got dc examiner to akcnowledge that clintons did good things in ireland.

and i already complained to ...

i'm fair and honest and i report on both sides...ive been slandered by slimy online journos on the left for a decade
Sep 28

this is fucked up, dude..im starving...and im not going to publish a word you told me...and everything that happened to me is because i was defending you from pedophile bullshit
Sep 28

my phone number again is
...im going to get the only food i can afford...$2.00 chicken that my cat will eat most of...
Sep 28

why would i screw over a source like you...im falsley accused of swatting mike stack and patterico and they were my sources

which is why it made no sense that i was slandered over that
Sep 28

and im being nice to you..you should be probing this shit...that happend to me...if you didn't sext anyone...none of it would have happpend...i'd be making 65,o000 a year still
Sep 28

instead i make zero, get exploited, plagiarized, meanaced, death threats, falsley accused of crimes and im starving and im stressed.

all because i wouldn't drop story that smeared you as a pedophile
Sep 28

I can't follow this.

But I'm trusting you to be honorable.
Sep 28

honorable?

how are you acting honorable?

and the person who sent you this dm is claiming he didn't send shit.

how the fuck do you have a dm i sent one person?
Sep 28

and that dm was before any agreement we made, and his response is blacked out
Sep 28

You attached it to the string above. Go look.
Sep 28

haha i didn't notice fuck me
Sep 28

I'm treating you honorably. Answering your Qs. But we have agreed on rules.
Sep 28

ack i had to apologize to him lol
Sep 28

okay thanks, anthony....i thought that he leaked it to you

ill talk to you tomorrow...and i swear to you that only two journos even know i've talked to you

i can't tell you how crushed i felt the last hour..anyway have a great night..
Sep 28

I trust you but I have no way to know if I trust them.
Sep 28

well, i'm only doing story with
Sep 28

and i promise you that i will square anything i publish that you tell me.....
Sep 28

I don't know what that means. I offered to answer your questions. That still stands.
Sep 28

i do stories with others...but they dont know i talk to you and i promise you i wont share anything

i meant i won't publish a word unless you agree to it.

that was our deal
Sep 28

Ok. Let's grab a beer. You ask what you want.
Sep 28

sure...i would love to! when?
Sep 28

i keep meaning to ask you if you're a knicks fan...lol....i really only follow rangers in playoffs ...and i was a huge messier fan...but hockey is my least favorite sport....knicks, syracuse orange basketball team, mets, jets, in that order for me heh...most dems hate sports
Sep 28

Mets and isles. Long story.

I can meet during the day most days. Can do an early evening
Sep 28

well any day except this friday works for me..i have no job lol

an early evening probably would be cooler..i'd love to have a beer instead of a glass of water
Sep 28

I can do today. Can't really do this evening. No childcare.
Oct 1

Awesome! What time? Do you have a place in mind?
Oct 1

There's a Hyatt on 4th just south of union square. Quiet bar there.

12/13 I think.

4:30 work?
Oct 1

Yes. Just call me by 3:30 if you need to cancel
Oct 1

K.
Oct 1

Oh, I don't record convos. Would you prefer that? Anything you tell me I'm still going to clear with you first before I publish anything.
Oct 1

Same rules. Off the record. If you want to use something, you may ask.

I'll be reasonable.
Oct 1

Thanks! See you later.
Oct 1

Yesterday was kind of scary. If your intent was to make me feel sympathy for your wife. It worked. My dad who was an alcoholic often acted like that. You lied to me repeatedly, but since you incredulously claim that you didn't, here's a few questions. What law enforcement agency did you allegedly report Wesloski to, what reason did you give, and who can I confirm this with? Smells like bullshit to me.
1h1 hour ago

And to be specific, one lie that you repeatedly kept pushing was that I was mixing up years when I kept trying to ask you about the $30,000 in 2012. And you were so loud that it was publicly humiliating. That's lying, dude. And it's the same Alinsky kind of crap nearly all lying liberals and wackos that worked with Breitbart do.
46m44 minutes ago

I made a mistake. I treated you like a reporter who wanted to ask a source questions while respecting a common agreement on what was on the record. In both instances I was wrong and I regret my error.

I am not making the same mistake again. Good luck to you.
22m20 minutes ago

Please seek help. That's your mistake. You have some kind of alcoholic, drug or rage problem. I might be reporting Wesloski to real law enforcement agency officials, not the pretend ones you obviously lied about.
11m9 minutes ago

And please don't try to get staff there fired....they all felt bad for me...except for your bro tending bar.
10m8 minutes ago

My mistakes were not bringing a tape recorder and meeting you on your turf. Thanks for learning me on that. It's scary you were almost mayor. I've only lost 10 percent of my life essentially defending you from bogus pedophile claims...and all you did was harangue, lie, rage, prevent me from writing notes, turn tables on me, and make absurd claims about facts. Please get help. Please don't hurt your wife or child.

Oct 2

One of the things you lied about directly to my face. You claimed you weren't required to report your finances when you ran for mayor.

"New York City's annual disclosure law, Section 12-110 of the City's Administrative Code, requires that approximately 8,500 New York City employees, elected officials, and candidates for office file annual reports of their financial affairs and outside positions and interests, as well as those of their spouses or domestic partner and dependent children."

But you'll lie about lying about that directly to my face, I'm sure.
Oct 7

you're a liar...i'm sick of being harassed by Weslowski & Schwartz...and you were horrible to me. I'm publishing now.
5m
↧

Media still continues to misreport Teneo was co-founded in 2011

October 20, 2015, 10:03 am
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(Editor's Note: Since March I began reporting on when Teneo was originally founded, and it appears that the firm has been scrubbing the Internet so that some of my original links don't work. But I've saved nearly everything, and can back up my reporting with more information I didn't publish yet. All Teneo's apparent scrubbing seems to do is prove that they want the media to continue to push the falsehood that CEO Declan Kelly had nothing to do with Teneo's initial formation in 2009, most probably because it will show that he broke his non-compete clause with his former employer.

One example of this scrubbing and/or shielding is that in April - after Judicial Watch did a story about my reporting - the September 2012 brochure that advertised Huma Abedin to Teneo clients was made inaccessible to the public, and now requires a password to view: http://ologroup.com/teneo/event/Brochure/oLo.teneoBroDisplay16-9_HIcrop.pdf. I still have a copy of the entire PDF, so their efforts are futile.

On July 17, 2015, BBC reporter Richard Conway - who broke the story that FIFA signed on with Teneo - took the screenshot above showing that the firm was paid $75,000 in a tweet (https://twitter.com/richard_conway/status/622045274270208000) linking to my article: "This via . Teneo, now hired by Fifa , fundraised for failed US 2022 World Cup bid."  In another tweet (https://twitter.com/richard_conway/status/622045935107973120), Conway added, ". full article on Teneo fundraising for US 2022 World Cup bid here: ")

At least The New York Post got the year right.

On June 21, 2015 - in an article (http://nypost.com/2015/06/21/clinton-confidant-cuts-ties-with-the-formidable-family/) based largely on Daniel Halper's book, "Clinton Inc.", Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein reported, "Now headquartered on the 45th floor of the Citigroup Center in Manhattan, and with offices around the world, Teneo — Latin for “to guide” — started more modestly in 2009 by business consultant Paul Keary."

"[Former President Bill Clinton 'body man' Doug] Band and Declan Kelly, who had been US economic envoy to Northern Ireland in Hillary Clinton’s State Department, joined the firm in 2011, turning it into a global powerhouse," the NY Post reporters added.

However, this is wrong.

As I reported back in March - and other mostly foreign media outlets have referred to in the past - Teneo was actually co-founded by all three in 2009, not 2011.  Teneo CEO Declan Kelly had a 2-year non-compete clause with his prior firm, and Doug Band needed to get approval from the State Department, since Hillary Clinton was President Barack Obama's Secretary of State, and there were toothless "revolving door" rules that were introduced as soon as the new administration took control.

I have more proof that Band and Kelly were involved with Teneo since 2009, but - for now - here are excerpts from my prior stories, which support what the media is mostly ignoring, when they continue to report the out-and-out falsehood that Teneo was co-founded in 2011.

From my March 12, 2015 article ("Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland"http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/03/associated-press-lawsuit-against-state.html):


In July of 2009 - before he was officially tapped by Clinton to be envoy - PR Week noted, "Declan Kelly, EVP and chief integration officer for FTI Consulting and chairman of FD US and FD Ireland, will resign on October 5, 2009. Effective immediately, he will serve as a senior adviser on several major client initiatives, first as an employee through October 5, then pursuant to a consulting agreement through June 15, 2011. According to the press release, he has resigned to pursue non-commercial opportunities outside of the firm."

...

"Aspiring to merge corporate consulting, public relations and merchant banking in a single business, Mr. Band poached executives from Wall Street, recruited other Clinton aides to join as employees or advisers and set up shop in a Midtown office formerly belonging to one of the country’s top hedge funds,"the NY Times reported August 13, 2013.

That New York Times story claimed Teneo was co-founded by Band in 2009, which seems to be at odds with other reports, and, while it mentions Kelly was appointed envoy by Hillary Clinton, it doesn't name him as a co-founder.

"By 2011, the firm had added a third partner, Declan Kelly, a former State Department envoy for Mrs. Clinton," Nicholas Confessore and Amy Chozick reported in 2012. "And Mr. Clinton had signed up as a paid adviser to the firm."
"Teneo worked on retainer, charging monthly fees as high as $250,000, according to current and former clients. The firm recruited clients who were also Clinton Foundation donors, while Mr. Band and Mr. Kelly encouraged others to become new foundation donors. Its marketing materials highlighted Mr. Band’s relationship with Mr. Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, where Mr. Band sat on the board of directors through 2011 and remains an adviser. Some Clinton aides and foundation employees began to wonder where the foundation ended and Teneo began."
The 2013 New Republic article on Band by MacGillis claimed, "In 2010, he, Declan Kelly, and a third partner registered the first of several entities in Delaware that would become Teneo. Band and Kelly had met during the 2008 campaign when Kelly was fund-raising for Hillary. Kelly had previously owned a p.r. firm, and the plan was for Band to offer the kind of strategic savvy he’d provided to Clinton. 'He’s particularly useful to the CEOs,' says Podesta."

...

When exactly was Teneo founded? If Declan Kelly helped found the firm while he was also envoy, that might complicate Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign even more.

According to Manta, which only refers to Kelly as CEO, "records show [Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC] was established in 2009 and incorporated in New York." Perhaps Teneo was put on hold for two years so that Declan Kelly could accept the envoy appointment by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with less scrutiny.

According to the New York State Corporation & Business Entity Database, Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC was registered on November 18, 2009, which was two months after Declan Kelly was appointed to the No. Ireland envoy post by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It may not be related to the firm that was co-founded in 2009, 2010 or 2011, but it was registered by a former associate with the Wall Street firm, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP.

On September 9. 2011, the database reveals Teneo Strategy LLC was registered in New York.

The website www.TeneoStrategyConsulting.com was registered on November 20, 2009 and began redirecting to www.TeneoHoldings.com on September 30, 2011, according to archive.org. So either the first firm was bought out, or it's always been the same company.

After I tweeted him, Charles Ortel - who has been reporting on Teneo for Breitbart.com ("Investment by BC Partners in Teneo Holdings may create serious problems for the Clinton brand") - suggested, "Actually--go to corporate registry in Delaware, NY, UK , Ireland and you will learn more---next story out Sunday/Monday!"

While searching for info on "Teneo Strategy Consulting", I stumbled upon a link which suggests that the firm got a multimillion dollar grant from the Rockefeller Foundation nearly thirty days before it was officially launched. According to the foundation's website, Teneo received $3,447,150 as part of the Centennial Fund "[i]n support of a project, in connection with the Rockefeller Foundation's centennial in 2013, to build capacity, create new coalitions, strengthen existing networks, and advance public policy by convening gatherings and providing multimedia tools and resources for identifying challenges and proposing tangible solutions to global problems." The terms of the grant are listed as 6/1/2011 – 3/31/2012.

Back on December 5, 2011, Neil W. McCabe - in a Human Events article - wrote, "Teneo landed its first major client June 1, when the Rockefeller Foundation gave Teneo a $3,447,150, six-month contract to help plan the foundation’s 2013 centennial."

"The foundation is another member of the Clinton’s extended family," McCabe added. "It gave Clinton its Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award July 27 and the foundation is listed as a between $1 to $5 million contributor to the William J. Clinton Foundation, along with several members of the Rockefeller family who are listed as individual contributors."

An IRS form 990-PF (pdf link) shows that Teneo Strategy Consulting was the highest paid independent contractor for the Rockefeller Foundation in 2012, earning $5,731,639.

The 2011 annual report for the Rockefeller Foundation (pdf link) also shows $350,000 was given to the Clinton Global Initiative "toward the costs of its 2011 annual conference, designed to catalyze a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to global challenges such as energy and climate change, poverty alleviation, global health, and education", and $594,960 to the Clinton Health Access Initiative, "for use by its Rwanda Country Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Rwanda, to upgrade District Health Strengthening Tool software and provide regional training and support for the local-level integration of new eHealth technologies country-wide."

...

According to the Trademark Encyclopedia and Trademarks411, the same firm, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, that registered Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC on November 18, 2009, also seems to have worked with it on trademarks. 

From my September 30, 2015 commentary ("RON BRYNAERT: A liberal take on the Hillary Clinton email scandal: Why the Huma Abedin controversy matters") that was published on the front page of The Washington Times editorial section (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/30/ron-brynaert-a-liberal-take-on-the-hillary-clinton/?page=all):

Why are we still talking about a revolving door at the White House?

After promising “change” in America, President Obama officially shut the revolving door on Jan. 21, 2009, in his very first executive order (https://www.whitehouse.gov/21stcenturygov/actions/revolving-door).

“Every appointee in every executive agency” was asked to sign this “ethics pledge,” which would make them “contractually committed … [a]s a condition, and in consideration, of [their] employment in the United States Government in a position invested with the public trust.” Commitment to the “obligations” was “binding” and “enforceable under law.”

While most of Mr. Obama’s executive order was devoted to curbing lobbying, there was also a “revolving door ban,” which affected “all appointees entering government.”

“I will not for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts,” all appointees entering government were asked to vow.

After serving as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, longtime aide Huma Abedin was quietly appointed as a “special government employee” on June 3, 2012. However, according to an email that conservative watchdog Judicial Watch recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Action lawsuit against the State Department, the very next day Ms. Abedin claimed that her “new position” would be “identical to [her] old position,” even though that appears to be in violation of special government employee requirements (http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/new-documents-huma-abedin).

Along with continuing to help and arrange Mrs. Clinton’s travel schedule at the State Department, Ms. Abedin also began working for the Clinton Foundation, a consulting firm called Teneo — co-founded by former President Bill Clinton’s “body man” and two Hillary Clinton fundraisers, one of whom, Declan Kelly, she had appointed as the economic envoy to Northern Ireland — and the former first lady herself on a personal basis.

As I reported in March (http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/03/teneo-worked-on-belfast-event-honoring.html and http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/03/state-secretarys-last-dinner-in-dublin.html), and recently released emails confirmed, Ms. Abedin helped schedule a dinner with Irish-American fundraisers for Mrs. Clinton on her last foreign trip as secretary of state, which included Teneo CEO Declan Kelly and top Clinton Foundation donor Denis O’Brien, a billionaire who is friends with Mr. Clinton. In her December 2012 trip to Ireland, Mrs. Clinton also was honored at a luncheon by the Ireland Funds, a Clinton Foundation donor. Mr. Kelly was on the board of the American Ireland Fund and his firm handled press for the Belfast luncheon.

Ms. Abedin’s multiple jobs all seem to conflict with the “ethics pledge” that “all appointees entering government” were required to sign by Mr. Obama, but no journalists or even Republicans — as far as I know — have mentioned this as an issue at all, even though the special government employee appointment has turned into a major controversy and Ms. Abedin’s four hats may have affected Mrs. Clinton’s polling numbers, since Huma is vice chairwoman of her 2016 campaign for president.

Perhaps because it’s just business as usual in American politics.

From my March 21, 2015 article ("Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy helped launch Teneo"http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/03/staff-employed-by-state-dept-as.html) and my March 12, 2015 story ("Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland"http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/03/associated-press-lawsuit-against-state.html):

Declan Kelly - a long time friend of the Clintons - was appointed the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in September of 2009. Although "speculated to be in line for the CEO's job", Kelly officially resigned from his job as "EVP and chief integration officer for FTI Consulting and chairman of FD US and FD Ireland" a few months earlier, but agreed to "serve as a senior adviser on several major client initiatives, first as an employee through October 5, then pursuant to a consulting agreement through June 15, 2011. According to the press release, he has resigned to pursue non-commercial opportunities outside of the firm,"PR Week noted in July of 2009.

Less than a week after Kelly stopped officially working as an employee for FTI - but apparently remained a consultant - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued joint press statements with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Stormont Castle in Northern Ireland, where she announced, "I have brought with me our new economic envoy, Declan Kelly, who is already hard at work, fostering economic ties."

After he resigned as envoy, Ryan Grim reported for Huffington Post on November 14, 2011, "As part of his deal with FTI, Kelly told HuffPost, he had agreed to a noncompete clause that prevented him from establishing a rival firm within two years of leaving FTI. Hillary Clinton had just been named to President Barack Obama's Cabinet and had something to keep him busy."

Kelly told Huffington Post, "When she wasn't successful [in her presidential campaign] and she became secretary of state, she asked me if I wanted to do a stint as an envoy to Ireland, and it came at the right time in my life. So I gave up everything, resigned from the job and agreed to a two-year noncompete, and went to Northern Ireland and did that job for two years. And I resigned in March of this year, and in June we started the new business."

The noncompete clause states, "You hereby reaffirm your obligation to comply strictly with the post-employment restrictions in the Employment Agreement during the twelve month period commencing October 6, 2009, and you hereby reaffirm your obligation under the Amended RSA, during the period up to and including June 15, 2011, not to (a) become employed by or a partner in or a consultant to any financial communications business competing with FD and/or any of its affiliates (the “Group”) in any one or more countries in Western Europe, or in the United States or Canada or South Africa or Dubai or Hong Kong or China or India or Bahrain or Russia (a “Competing Business”) and in a manner in which your employment, partnership or consultancy would compete with the Group, (b) solicit clients or employees of the Group away from the Group for the benefit of a Competing Business or (c) willfully or deliberately disclose to any person information which is confidential to the Group, subject only to the following express exceptions: (a) your performance of services as an independent contractor to FTI during the period October 6, 2009 through and including June 15, 2011, or earlier in the event you terminate the independent contractor relationship prior thereto; and (b) your employment (whether directly or through an entity owned by you) of Sue Bloomberg."

In the Huffington Post article, Kelly didn't mention that - per his termination agreement - he had a "post-employment consulting arrangement with FD US and FTI."

"You will be reimbursed, in accordance with standard FTI expense reimbursement practice, for all business related expenses incurred by you during the period through October 5, 2009, and for all business related expenses incurred in connection with the Key Accounts (or approved in advance by the CEO of FTI) during the period through June 15, 2011," the agreement noted. "During the period from October 6, 2009 through June 15, 2011, you (or an entity to be formed and owned by you) will serve as an independent contractor consultant to FTI and FD."
"In the event you determine to accept a position in government service that prohibits or materially impairs your performance of services as an independent contractor consultant to FTI or FD through June 15, 2011, you will provide not less than thirty (30) days’ written notice of such decision to the CEO of FTI, and during such notice period you will consult and work with the CEO of FTI and other members of FTI and FD senior management, as well as the pertinent client facing FD professionals, to develop and implement a plan reasonably calculated to facilitate the continued and uninterrupted provision of client services to the Key Accounts.

You and your family shall be entitled to continued medical and dental insurance coverage at present levels through June 15, 2011. Thereafter, you will be eligible to continue your health insurance coverage under COBRA, as in effect at such time. You will receive further details on these conversion/continuation rights in a separate document from FlexAmerica.

You will continue to have the use of a leased company car in accordance with Section 5(d) of your Employment Agreement through June 15, 2011. In the event applicable FTI insurance arrangements do not permit the continued use of a leased company car after October 5, 2009, suitable and mutually acceptable alternative arrangements will be made."
"During the period October 6, 2009 through June 15, 2011, you will be entitled to receive the Key Account Personal Billings, the *** Origination Fee, and the *** Origination Fee, with payment of such fees, in each instance, to be made 10 working days after such fees are collected," the agreement adds.

Financial statements suggest that Kelly earned as much as $2.4 million from FTI in 2009, but it's unclear what he received from them the next two years.

The Huffington Post article continued, "As the Northern Ireland envoy, Kelly took no salary from State, he said, but was afforded one staffer in Washington and reimbursed for coach flights across the pond. On his own dime, he said, he hired a staff of five and paid for office space at a cost of $1.4 million, while also giving up potentially millions in salary over the two-year period. Kelly's assertions may sound extreme, but ambassadors and high-level envoys are known to spend heavily with their personal money while in the job. The White House referred questions to the State Department; a spokesman there didn't respond to requests for comment."

"Kelly has brought that staff with him to his new investment firm," Grim noted.

He bragged to Huffington Post in 2011, "I didn't need the State Department or the U.S. government's help to access the economic elite in Ireland. I have advised four prime ministers in Ireland, all pro bono. I had a business in Ireland for over a decade, I have a home there, I am an Irish citizen and I know virtually every senior business leader in the country. I've gained no personal benefit from this at all."

But according to the Irish Echo, the State Department helped "provide administrative support" to Kelly, so it's unclear how much was spent by the US government.

"The formation of Kelly’s newest venture was in the works for some time before Kelly resigned,"the Irish Echo reported on August 4, 2011."A trademark application was made for the Teneo company logo in April, 2010, and an application for funding was also submitted to the Rockefeller Foundation months before its approval in early June, giving the new company a huge grant for over three million dollars in start up cash."

From my July 16, 2015 article ("Year before launch, Clintons-linked firm worked on failed US World Cup bid"; IRS filing reveals Teneo earned $75K fundraising while lobbying Fifa officials with ex-President Clinton in 2010 http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/07/year-before-launch-clintons-linked-firm.html):

In its latest press release, Teneo - a PR firm co-founded by two former Hillary Clinton fundraisers, including CEO Declan Kelly who she appointed as US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, and former President Bill Clinton's "body man", Doug Band - claims that it "is a global advisory firm founded in 2011 by Declan Kelly, Doug Band and Paul Keary with a vision to create a new breed of advisory firm focused on working exclusively with the leaders of major corporations to help them address a wide range of business and reputational issues and opportunities."

However, Teneo's first paying gig was actually in 2010, while Kelly was still working for the State Department.

"The BBC has learnt New York-based Teneo Holdings has been retained in the wake of the criminal investigation launched into football's world governing body by the US Department of Justice in May,"BBC Radio 5 Live Sports News Correspondent Richard Conway reported today. "The company's president is Doug Band, who served as a director on the US 2022 World Cup bid committee."

Conway notes, "Band, together with Fifa executive committee member Sunil Gulati and others, made the final World Cup bid presentation to high-ranking officials in Zurich in 2010."

On April 8, 2010 a US Soccer press release announced, "Counselor to President Bill Clinton, Douglas Band, has formally accepted an invitation to join the Board of Directors for the USA Bid Committee in its effort to bring the FIFA World Cup™ to the United States in 2018 or 2022."
"Band has worked alongside President Clinton for more than 14 years, serving a variety of roles dating back to Clinton’s time in the White House. He has served as President Clinton's chief adviser since 2002, counseling him and serving as the key architect of Clinton's post-Presidency. He created and built the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) that to date has raised $57 billion for 1,700 philanthropic initiatives around the world spanning climate change, global health, citizen service, education and the empowerment of women and girls, which in total impacts more than 200 million people in 170 countries.

'Doug has spent most of his professional career working with President Clinton on topics that range from international and domestic policy to global philanthropic and environmental issues,' said Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer. 'His vast experience and multi-national contacts, along with his passion for the game of soccer will be key assets to the bid as he travels the world alongside President Clinton in the months to come.'"
The 2010 press release added, "All candidates must have their bid applications to FIFA by May 14, 2010. FIFA’s 24 member Executive Committee will study the bids, conduct site visits and name the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments on December 2, 2010, completing a 21-month bid and review process."

According to an IRS filing (pdf link; page 28) by the USA Bid Committee Inc. that appears to have been submitted on May 13, 2011, Teneo Strategy Consulting raised $1,392,500 through phone and email solicitations and earned $75,000 for its work in 2010. "Teneo Strategy Consulting was engaged to provide phone and email solicitations," the filing states on page 30. On page 8, listed second between Chairman Sunil Gulati and Vice Chairman Carlos Cordeiro, Honorary Chairman William Clinton is named as only one of three officers for the USA bid committee.

One month after the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with former US President Bill Clinton, in a May 2010 visit to the White House, Foreign Policy's P.J. Aroon reported on June 24, 2010, "Clinton, who was president when the United States hosted the World Cup in 1994 and women’s World Cup in 1999, was in Africa primarily to lobby FIFA’s executive committee on the U.S. bid for 2018 or 2022, though his trip includes visits to Malawi and Tanzania to check up on Clinton Foundation projects."

According to his website biography, Teneo Strategy Senior Vice President Michael Coakley "has been an advisor on a number of sports-related engagements including the United States bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Qatar’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games." However, his LinkedIn resume claims that he didn't work for the firm until 2011.

As his biography notes, Doug Band also"was part of the negotiation team that handled all aspects of Hillary Clinton’s becoming Secretary of State." Although it states that he "served...in 2010 on the Board of Directors of the United States Bid Committee for the World Cup," the Teneo website doesn't note that they were paid for this service.

...

In an April 30 article covering my reporting on Teneo, conservative watchdog Judicial Watch's Micah Morrison wrote, "Brynaert pays close attention to the timelines. Kelly served as U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland from September 2009 to May 2011. Brynaert asks, 'When exactly was Teneo founded? If Declan Kelly helped found the firm while he was also envoy, that might complicate Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign even more.'"
"The official line from Teneo is that it was founded in 2011. But Brynaert reports that Teneo appears to have been registered as a business as early as 2009. 'According to the New York State Corporation & Business Entity Database,' Brynaert writes, 'Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC was registered on November 18, 2009, which was two months after Declan Kelly was appointed to the No. Ireland envoy post.' Brynaert notes as well that the website www.TeneoStrategyConsulting.com was registered on November 20, 2009, and began redirecting to www.TeneoHoldings.com on September 30, 2011."
The IRS filing by the USA Bid Committee Inc. submitted on May 13, 2011 according to its electronic stamp came after an April request for an extension to file. This was two days after then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's May 11, 2011 statement regarding Kelly's resignation as US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.

"A joint investigation by the Washington Examiner and the nonprofit watchdog group Judicial Watch found that former President Clinton gave 215 speeches and earned $48 million while his wife presided over U.S. foreign policy, raising questions about whether the Clintons fulfilled ethics agreements related to the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state," Luke Rosiak and Micah Morrison reported for the Washington Examiner on July 30, 2014.

On June 11, 2011, "the State Department approved a consulting agreement [(pdf link)] between Bill Clinton and a controversial Clinton Foundation adviser, Doug Band."

The consulting work that Band, Clinton and Teneo provided the US World Cup bid apparently wasn't approved by the State Department, since it transpired a year before it was even contacted about Teneo.

See my previous stories for more details (however, there are lots more at this blog, with additional information, plus at my Twitter account @ronbryn, and - of course - more on the way both here, there, and - hopefully - everywhere one day):

Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland

Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy helped launch Teneo

Teneo worked on Belfast event honoring Hillary Clinton

State Secretary's last dinner in Dublin hosted by Clinton Foundation donor

Is Weiner planning to try and win back his old Congress seat?

State Dept. spokesman fielded question about Hillary Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff after Huma Abedin 'quietly' left position

Anthony Weiner company led by former board director for firm investors blasted as 'CROOKS'

Friends of Weiner may get hit with FEC audit or enforcement action

Weiner paid 'fund-raising whiz' $8K a month after he resigned .




↧

Hillary Clinton aide was relieved that sexually abused kids didn't blame State Dept. on NBC News report

November 1, 2015, 5:28 pm
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An email released by the State Department on Friday shows that a top Hillary Clinton aide was mostly relieved that an NBC News report which was a response to a story called "Critics blame State Department for turning a blind eye on sex abuse" wasn't "worse" when it aired on television. It took months for the State Department to suspend an organization it worked with that was singled out in the report, and it wasn't until nearly nine months later - after a host father went to prison for sexually abusing a foreign exchange student featured in the NBC News report - that it was removed from the list of sponsors. However, the State Department - under Hillary Clinton and after she left in 2013 - never apparently even publicly admitted that the sexual abuse charges had anything to do with dropping the organization, which appears to have gone defunct.

Jason Leopold - who once falsely reported that Karl Rove was indicted - noted the email in a story ("Hillary Clinton's Response to a Bank Robber in a Hillary Mask: 'Should I Be Flattered?'") for VICE News that focused on a much lighter one.

"One email dated March 15, 2012 was highly critical about NBC News coverage of a story, the content of which is unclear," Leopold reported. "But it does note that in order to rebut the story the State Department would have had to provide emails to "prove our side, which I'm sure would have to go through rigorous legal vetting."

However, the email certainly wasn't "highly critical", and was mostly pleased with the on-air report, and it only took a quick Google search to figure out which NBC News report was being reviewed by Caitlin Klevorick, who was then Senior Advisor to the Counselor and Chief of Staff at the State Department. Leopold's story left out key clues that made it easy to find such as the name of a critic, Jessica Vaughan from the Center for Immigration Studies, and that it had to do with kids and referred to a case that occurred in Montana in December of 2011. Leopold has been at the forefront of the Freedom of Information Act battles with the State Department on releasing Clinton emails, but he doesn't appear to be very critical of the top Democratic presidential candidate.

Leopold's story continues, "'This was clearly an agenda-laden job that brian Williams and kate snow didn't seem to comfortable with,' wrote Caitlin Kevorick, then a senior State Department aide [all sic]. 'It was bad. There's no question, but toria's [Victoria Nuland, State Department spokesman] tone and poise were incredibly clutch. They used a bunch of broil of S [Secretary Clinton] without saying anything to me, despite my grilling, but the broil [sic] is public footage and it never blames S [Secretary Clinton] if anything it shows her 'fix it now' mentality and that this can't be tolerated … Surprisingly the person who was the worst during the day was [NBC News reporter] Andrea Mitchell who teased the piece on her show.'"

Kevorick wrote Hillary Clinton's aide Cheryl Mills - who later helped select which emails to delete from Clinton's server, "On the most recent case they mentioned, from December/Montana, the facts we have contradict those NBC has but did not know until too late and would have had to provide emails to prove our side which I'm sure would have to go through rigorous legal vetting."

Anna Schecter reported for NBC News on March 14, 2012 ("Critics blame State Department for turning a blind eye on sex abuse"), "Despite reforms, just this past Christmas a 16-year-old boy from Germany says he did not know what to do after he was allegedly sexually abused by his host father and did not know what to do. In an interview to be broadcast tonight on Rock Center, he said he did not know about the State Department’s 24/7 hotline."

"His mother said when she spoke to the local coordinator by phone and asked her what she should do, the coordinator told her, 'It’s up to you,'" the NBC News story continued. "She quickly flew to the U.S. on her own dime to retrieve her son at her own expense. Three months later she and her son flew back to the U.S., again at their own expense, to file a police report."

In the email, Kevorick wrote, "One thing to note, none of the kids mentioned the state department or usg. Only Jessica Vaughan who is at the center for immigration studies and has long been a critic (and was a former junior [Foreign Service Officer] mentioned State with incredible disdain and explicit culpability."

Vaughan told NBC News, "Through their mismanagement of the program, they essentially are looking the other way. They’re in denial about how much of it actually goes on. I’m ashamed as an American that the government agency that’s responsible for bringing them over under the auspices of [being] about cross-cultural understanding is exercising only token oversight to protect these kids."

"The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization," the CIS About page states. "Since our founding in 1985, we have pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States." CIS claims, "Our board, our staff, our researchers, and our contributor base are not predominantly 'liberal' or predominantly 'conservative'. Not all of the "Kudos for the Center" are from Republicans: Former Democratic Colorado Gov. Richard D. Lamm is quoted as saying it's "one of the best organizations working on one of America’s most important problems" and Wisconsin Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette said, "The Center is doing important work to focus attention on the important role of the current rapid U.S. population growth in dealing with the many environmental problems we face in this country."

In addition, Joaquin Otero - a former Deputy Under Secretary of Labor who was once nominated by former President Bill Clinton "to serve as the Assistant Secretary for International Labor Affairs at the Department of Labor," and donated $1,000 to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign - reportedly said, "Your analyses and other immigration reporting are excellent and I want to congratulate you and CIS for keeping this vital policy issue on the front burner."

According to her biography at the CIS website, "Jessica M. Vaughan serves as Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, DC-based research institute that examines the impact of immigration on American society and educates policymakers and opinion leaders on immigration issues. She has been with the Center since 1992, and her area of expertise is immigration policy and operations, covering topics such as visa programs, immigration benefits and immigration law enforcement. Ms. Vaughan recently completed several major projects on immigration and crime, including a Department of Justice-funded project studying the use of immigration law enforcement in transnational gang suppression efforts. In addition, she is an instructor for senior law enforcement officer training seminars at Northwestern University’s Center for Public Safety in Illinois."

"Prior to joining the Center, Mrs. Vaughan was a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, where she served in Belgium and Trinidad & Tobago," the biography adds.

"They also continually said that the vast majority have great experiences," Kevorick happily noted, regarding a story about how State Department was allegedly "'in denial' about how many high school foreign exchange students are sexually abused by their American host parents."

However, as Schecter reported two days before the email, "Nuland said that from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's point of view even one child abused under these programs is one child too many."
"'Our standard has to be zero tolerance. So to the degree that which we still have cases reported we are not there yet. Are the reforms that we've put in place sufficient? I think we need to watch that over the next couple of months and see where it goes. But we are absolutely committed to continuing to tighten these regulations and improve this program until we get to zero.'"
While the State Department aide concluded in the "bottom line" that the NBC News story was "bad", she was evidently relieved because it could "have been worse."

Another article - "State Dept: Fifty teens allegedly sexually abused or harassed by host parent last year" - published on March 15, 2012, includes the State Department responses to the NBC News investigation, which Kevorick was specifically referring to in her email to Mills.

The article says Nuland told NBC News, "The vast majority of these kids have a rich, enormously gratifying experience that lasts with them for a lifetime. That doesn't change the fact that we have to have zero tolerance for any of these cases, even one child abused is one too many. And it is our job to fix this and we will."

In actuality, Nuland's over the top quote was "these kids have a enormously, gratifying, rich, fantastic experience."

. Regarding the Montana case, while Kevorick claimed that "the facts we have contradict those NBC has but did not know until too late and would have had to provide emails to prove our side which I'm sure would have to go through rigorous legal vetting," Nuland told NBC News, "Assuming the case is as you explained it, it's absolutely unacceptable, and it's one that needs to be looked at by us, and we will do that."

On August 7, 2014, a United States District Court judge dismissed the Montana case due to jurisdiction concerns and New York contract laws. (Editor's note: I'm not linking to the ruling since it includes the alleged victim's name). But according to the ruling, the alleged German victim, "while a minor in 2011, enrolled in a foreign student exchange program here in the United States, which was run by Defendant International Student Exchange, Inc. ("ISE")" and that "on December 23, 2011, when he was sixteen years old and residing in the Preiss home as part of the exchange student program, [Defendant Theodore R] Preiss subjected Plaintiff to unwanted sexual contact. That evening, Plaintiff contacted Ashley Pulsipher ("Pulsipher"), the Area Representative assigned by ISE to supervise and monitor Plaintiff's placement with the Preiss family. Plaintiff advised Pulsipher that there were private issues that he urgently needed to discuss with her, in person, as soon as possible."

Oddly, ISE didn't contact the police, according to the judge's ruling, and waited until the following day to contact the State Department.

"Plaintiff met with Pulsipher on December 26, 2011 and reported Preiss's sexual abuse. Pulsipher immediately contacted her supervisor, Area Manager Carol Toews ("Toews"), who in turn called ISE's corporate headquarters in New York. On December 27, 2011, Toews, following instructions from ISE's New York office, contacted the Child and Family Services Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and notified them of Plaintiff's report of sexual abuse. That same day, ISE's corporate office in New York notified the United States Department of State of Plaintiff's report of sexual abuse."

"Plaintiff left Montana to return to Germany on December 27, 2011," the judge added. "The District Attorney's Office for Gallatin County, Montana declined to prosecute Preiss."

On March 14, 2012, the AP reported, "Despite dozens of allegations of neglect and sexual abuse over the years, the U.S. State Department has scrapped a plan to require FBI-based fingerprint searches for people hosting foreign high school exchange students, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The federal agency in recent years considered but dropped a plan to require FBI background checks similar to what's used by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because it wasn't "feasible," according to the State Department documents."

"Danielle Grijalalva, executive director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, said she has found dozens of cases of sexual abuse over the years and forwarded the complaints to the State Department," the AP article noted. "Yet the agency has done little to investigate them, she said."

Grijalalva complained to the AP, "The State Department is watching exchange agencies like the Catholic Church watched its (pedophile) priests."

According to California attorney Andrea Leavitt - who represented four exchange students sexually abused in Arkansas, two of which who were interviewed in the NBC News report - told the AP, ""Most often we see the inclination by the foreign exchange sponsoring agency, camps, schools and churches is to bury it and discredit the kid. The cover-ups often result in more victims and escalation in the nature and severity of the abuse by the perpetrator. There is a huge, glaring, gaping hole in the regulations in what must be done when there's an allegation of child abuse.

The AP story added, "Allegations of abuse aren't usually reported immediately to law enforcement or child protective services, she said."
"Leavitt would like to see a federal law that requires officials, employees and agents of entities that are licensed by the government or receive financial benefits from the government to report an allegation to law enforcement before running it up the company's chain of command.

There should be a mandatory jail sentence and no plea bargains when people don't first report the matter to law enforcement by email or fax within 24 hours of hearing an allegation, she said.

'There's too much witness tampering, too much wagon circling by the entities to protect them from liability and penalties over the protection and best interests of the victims,' she said."
In December of 2014, ABC Fox Montana reported, "A German exchange student claims his Belgrade host parent sexually abused him...The student filed the suit in Montana federal courts against International Student Exchange (ISE), one of the world's largest exchange companies, saying the company should be held responsible for placing him with a Belgrade host parent who later sexually abused him in 2011."

"Attorneys for the host father say the student fabricated these claims because he was unhappy in Montana and wanted to return to Germany," the article added. "The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $6 million."

According to a Montana court docket, Preiss and the teenage boy apparently agreed to a settlement in June. On June 11, the judge announced that the "jury trial set for March 7, 2016, is VACATED."

In July, a judge dismissed the case against ISE, for similar reasons cited in New York: jurisdiction and contract issues. (Editor's note: Again, I'm not directly linking to the court document since it contains the alleged victim's name). There are more details provided in the ruling, the alleged victim claimed the "unwanted sexual contact" included "touching his intimate body parts under the guise of 'tickling'" and "performing oral sex on him."

It's unclear why the Montana District Attorney's office didn't press charges against host parent Theodore R. Preiss, but I'm hoping to get more information from the alleged victim's attorney. Since the State Department was involved - to some respect - it's also unclear why they weren't named in any of the lawsuits.

There are three videos in total at the last NBC News link. Viewers should be warned that watching Kate Snow is extremely disturbing, since she smiles inappropriately even when talking to teenagers who claimed to be sexual abuse victims. Her questions to Nuland are complete softballs, and even though the mother of the Montana teen specifically said none of the material provided to families before sending their kids to America mention sexual abuse, Snow does a disservice to Kevorick's hard work by not even asking the State Department to respond to that claim.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



It took four months before the State Department appears to have finally taken any other significant action about the program, even though Hillary Clinton said that there should be "zero tolerance" for child abuse.

A July 23, 2012 Associated Press report claimed, "An organization that has brought thousands of foreign exchange students to the United States is telling its staff and host families that it will fight a State Department decision to suspend the company from the popular visa program, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press...The State Department suspended PIE from the program last week for undisclosed rule violations."

However, it was unclear at the time if that suspension had anything to do with the sex abuse claims, since the AP story added, "The State Department has not said exactly why PIE was suspended from the program. The company has had problems in recent years. The State Department put it on probation last year, reduced the number of students it could sponsor by 15 percent and ordered it to improve program administration."

On September 7, 2012, Anna Schecter reported, "The State Department has punished a student exchange organization in the wake of a Rock Center probe which examined cases of sexual abuse of high school foreign exchange students".

"San Diego-based Pacific Intercultural Exchange (P.I.E), one of the organizations highlighted in the March 14 report, was banned from participating in the State Department program," Schecter wrote. "As reported by Rock Center, P.I.E. placed a 16-year-old German exchange student in the home of a single host father, 51-year-old Craig Ley, who repeatedly sexually abused the student in his Oregon home over the course of the 2009 academic school year."

But an unnamed State Department official still pushed "the vast majority have great experiences" angle.

Shecter's September 7, 2012 report continued, "Fifty high school foreign exchange students reported being sexually abused or harassed by a host parent during the 2010-2011 school year alone, according to data released by the State Department in response to the March Rock Center report. A State Department official said this is a small percentage of the 25,000 foreign high-school students who come to America on special visas each year."

"Rock Center interviewed two students who were sexually abused by the same host father," Schecter noted. "Educational Resource Development Trust (E.R.D.T.) placed the second student in the home of the perpetrator in 2005 even after the first student had alerted the organization about the host father’s inappropriate conduct the year before. The students filed suit in 2010 and E.R.D.T. settled for an undisclosed amount without admitting liability. E.R.D.T. was never sanctioned by the State Department and is still operating."

The website for the Pacific Intercultural Exchange at www.pieusa.org is no longer active, and it appears that it stopped updating in August of 2012. A July 20, 2012 message (archive link) stated, "We are heartbroken by the Department of State's decision to temporarily suspend Pacific Intercultural Exchange's (P.I.E.) operation during the height of the 2012-2013 academic year placement cycle. Since our founding in 1975, P.I.E. has provided a positive, meaningful and safe exchange experience for more than 20,000 secondary school participants. We remain committed to offering these culturally enriching programs well into the future. Because the suspension directly relates to a civil suit that is currently in litigation, we cannot provide detail at this time. We can say that the safety of all our participants is and always has been P.I.E.'s highest priority. During the temporary suspension, we are working with our partner programs and government officials to ensure that no inbound students are adversely affected. In addition, we are preparing a formal response to the Department of State contesting the suspension, and we will provide more information when we are able."

A video of then Secretary Clinton was featured at the P.I.E. website, and can still be viewed YouTube.

In October of 2012, one of the host fathers agreed to a a settlement with an abused teenager featured in the NBC News report. Emily E. Smith at the Oregonian reported, "A German exchange student reached a settlement Wednesday in his lawsuit against the Beaverton host father who sexually abused him and the exchange program that matched them. The teen sued his former host father, Craig Ley, for $2 million. Ley is now serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing the then-16-year-old exchange student when the teen attended Beaverton High School and lived with him during the 2009-10 school year."

The story added, "The suit also sought $4 million from Pacific Intercultural Exchange, the San Diego-based exchange program that continued using Ley as a host father even after his 2004 felony mail fraud conviction. PIE reached a confidential settlement Wednesday with the teen, who is now 19. Also, Ley resolved the case against him by agreeing to pay $100,000 to child abuse assessment center CARES Northwest. As part of the agreement, if Ley does not fulfill the payment within 10 years, the teen may seize the money."

But it wasn't until late November of 2012, that the State Department took final action against P.I.E.

"An organization has lost its government designation to bring foreign exchange students to the United States after facing allegations of mismanagement and lax oversight that included students being placed in homes where they were sexually abused," Holbrook Mohr reported for the Associated Press on November 30, 2012. "State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman told The Associated Press on Friday that Pacific Intercultural Exchange, or PIE, was removed Wednesday from the department’s list of official sponsors."

However, Mohr added, "State Department officials haven’t said exactly what problems led to PIE’s removal, but documents and emails obtained by AP in July showed allegations of serious problems, including sexual abuse by host fathers."

This is the full email:
"By the time the piece ran pretty much everything was already posted in stories on the website. This was clearly an agenda-laden job that brian Williams and kate snow didn't seem to comfortable with. It was bad. There's no question, but toria's tone and poise were incredibly clutch. On the most recent case they mentioned, from December/Montana, the facts we have contradict those NBC has but did not know until too late and would have had to provide emails to prove our side which I'm sure would have to go through rigorous legal vetting. One thing to note, none of the kids mentioned the state department or usg. Only Jessica Vaughan who is at the center for immigration studies and has long been a critic (and was a former junior FSO) mentioned State with incredible disdain and explicit culpability. They used a bunch of broil of S without saying anything to me, despite my grilling, but the broil is public footage and it never blames S if anything it shows her 'fix it now' mentality and that this can't be tolerated. They also continually said that the vast majority have great experiences. Both Brian and Kate said that in the live follow-up on the piece. Surprisingly the person who was the worst during the day was Andrea Mitchell who teased the piece on her show. And again, this was only about the private sector exchanges not the ones that are usg-funded.

Bottom line:

So, was it bad? Yes

Could it have been worse?

Yes

And the show literally went from Toria sayng zero tolerance and the talk back in the studio to a story about the gifts office and the grill obama gave Cameron..."
In his VICE article, Leopold also didn't note Klevorick - like longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin - was given "special government employee" status so that she could work for the State Department and Clinton Foundation at the same time.

"Klevorick was one of several Clinton aides who was granted a "special government employee" status that allowed her to collect paychecks from a private company and the State Department at the same time, according to Pro Publica," Sarah Westwood reported for Washington Examiner in July.

Westwood added, "Klevorick worked both as a consultant for the Clinton Foundation and in Mills' office that year, according to her professional biography."

(Editor's Note: Jason Leopold and I have a long history going back over a decade. After once contacting me to praise me for a story I did on a plagiarist - which was strange, since he had previously lost reporting jobs for alleged plagiarism - Leopold later turned against me, and used a sock to spread outrageous lies about me a few years ago. After I discovered a few of his stories for RAW STORY - before I was promoted to Executive Editor - were full of misinformation, we stopped publishing his work.)

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During terror attacks, Teneo Intelligence Managing Director Crispin Hawes reassures oil investors

November 16, 2015, 1:36 pm
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Got stock in oil? Well, then, you probably heard of Crispin Hawes.

Whenever there's a Middle Eastern related terrorist attack, media outlets can count on Teneo Intelligence Managing Director Crispin Hawes for consistent quotes on how it affects oil investors, as if that's all that matters.

No matter the time, the place or the specifics, Crispin Hawes seems to be making a nifty living talking up oil, and reassuring investors that terror attacks come with the territory when you profit off of black gold.

Some firms reportedly pay Teneo hundreds of thousands of dollars a month for consulting. But if Hawes' consulting work is anything like his media soundbites and interviews, they probably aren't getting much bang for their bucks, since he never really says much of anything.

When asked what can be done to prevent future attacks, Hawes adds little to the conversation, even though media outlets keep contacting him for quotes.

Earlier today, on Bloomberg Television’s "The Pulse", Hawes "discuss[ed] the market reaction to the attacks in Paris and what it may mean politically for the whole of France." The Teneo Intelligence Managing Director opined that there isn't an "obvious policy solution", other than "air strikes", but "no Nato member" will likely send "ground troops into Iraq and Syria any time soon and, without that, ISIS will continue to be the standard-bearer of Islamic radicalism."

A number of "western security agencies have foiled plots" but the "unfortunate truth is that" attackers "only need to succeed once, while security providers need a 100 percent success rate," Hawes noted, rather obviously.

Ten months ago, during an interview on CNBC after a terrorist attack in Paris, Hawes pretty much said the same thing: "That it only takes one to succeed."

Today, when asked specifically what would happen if ground troops were deployed and successful against ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, Hawes said that "destroying that territorial control" wouldn't be enough to wipe out Islamicist activity, but offered no original thoughts on the matter.

"Mr. Hawes has been covering political and investment risk issues in the Middle East and Africa for over 20 years," his bio at Teneo - a firm launched by former President Bill Clinton's "body man" and two Hillary Clinton fundraisers, one of whom served as her Economic Adviser to No. Ireland when she served as President Obama's Secretary of State - states. "In addition to two stints leading Eurasia Group’s MENA practice, Mr. Hawes has covered the region for Control Risks Group, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Credit Lyonnais Securities and as a partner in Horizon, a boutique upstream oil and gas consultancy."

According to his resume at LinkedIn, Crispin Hawes left Horizon in October of 2011 to return to the Eurasia Group. His resume states, "Research and consulting firm focused on political and commercial environment for energy investment. We specialize in analyzing the impact that individuals have on government decisions in the energy industry in countries where the real decision-making power does not necessarily lie in the hands of people that hold formal positions of power but in opaque networks. We cover, among others, countries such as Libya, Iraq, Syria, Russia and Indonesia." In the October 11, 2011 Eurasia Group press release announcing Hawes was rejoining the consulting firm, it said that "he was consulting primarily on the regional oil and gas sector as a partner and head of Middle East and North Africa research for Horizon, a boutique consultancy."

Like many of the consultants at Teneo, who used to include former President Bill Clinton, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Hillary Clinton's longtime aide, Huma Abedin - while she still worked at the State Department - in their ranks, many Teneo employees had stints working for or advising governments. According to his bio, Teneo Intelligence Managing Director Crispin Hawes has "consulted with government agencies in the US, Canada, the UK and Germany."

"King Salman has abandoned the balancing act by which predecessors tried to keep the Al Saud family’s various branches in harmony, and opted for rapid change that’s already ruffling some royal feathers,"Bloomberg News reported on April 30, 2015. "Change in the conservative Gulf monarchy, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has typically involved inching forward."

But count on Hawes to be a reassuring voice for any panicking oil investors: "When the older generation started to die, we expected to see major changes. The details of the outcome are surprising, but the situation was always going to change. Salman is trying to make changes in a concentrated period of time."

Reuters reported on January 18, 2013, "Libya rushed to beef up security at its oil fields and energy firms were considering similar measures in Egypt as Islamist militants threatened to attack new installations in north Africa. More than 20 foreigners were still being held hostage or missing inside Algeria's In Amenas gas plant on Friday after Algerian forces stormed the desert complex near the Libyan border to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist militants."

"That attack and the warning triggered a mass exodus of expatriates from Algerian oil and gas production sites and security experts have said similar evacuation could be on the way across other north African countries," the Reuters report continued. "BP said on Friday hundreds of workers from international oil companies had been evacuated from Algeria on Thursday and many more would follow."

However, none of this seemed to stir or shake Hawes: "Crispin Hawes, from Eurasia consultancy, who said he had visited the In Amenas site several times, said oil companies removed non-essential staff in such circumstances as part of their established protocols."

"In other nearby countries, similar responses are also almost automatically triggered," Hawes reassured oil investors through Reuters. "Every international oil company operation in Algeria will be obliged by insurers to take certain precautions to avoid and mitigate such instances. Premiums are likely to rise and the expatriation of staff will add to operating costs."

The Reuters article continued, "He said the exodus of expats might delay some projects but added that very big outages were unlikely as the biggest fields in southern Algeria such as Hassi Mesaoud were 'extremely secure'".

On August 8, 2013 Julie Payne at Reuters reported, "Unrest that has already slashed Libya's oil output to the lowest levels since the 2011 civil war and more than halved its exports is now spreading, with serious implications for its economy, foreign companies and consumers of crude...Although oil provides 95 percent of Libya's revenues, analysts say its economy can manage for a while." An optimistic Hawes chimed in, "They are not that straightened because they have significant (monetary) reserves. It would take a couple of months of zero exports before they would not be able to pay for things. It's a medium term issue."

Many times Hawes doesn't even add much to the premise of the article, but reporters still count on him for quotes. In a December 2, 2013 Wall Street Journal article, Emre Peker reported, "The autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan said it agreed to supply Turkey with oil through a pipeline in a landmark deal that raised tensions with Baghdad, which fears the move could spark independence drives by other Iraqi governorates. But the Monday announcement here, in the region's capital, was tempered by Baghdad's refusal to approve the deal, which it considers illegal."

"In retaliation, Baghdad could move to cut off the pipeline, which connects to Turkey through an Iraqi-Turkish pipeline, and it could confront Turkey in an international court, lawyers say," Peker noted. "Baghdad, in a last resort, could intervene militarily, though many observers see that as less likely." But the only quote from Hawes: "The risk to Turkey of selling this crude without Iraqi approval is incredibly high."

Hawes - whose "core specializations are hydrocarbons politics in the Gulf and political transitions in MENA states, particularly Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Libya" - tends to sound a constant alarm about renegade terrorists who are more of a threat to oil investors than whomever actually controls the oil.

7/17/12 Gulf News report: "'A new cycle of Shiite protests against the Saudi regime and its policing tactics is developing in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia,' Crispin Hawes, director for the Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group in London, wrote in an e- mailed note yesterday. 'The immediate implications for state stability and crude oil production are limited, but the repercussions for the stability of the province in the longer- term are potentially significant'".

1/29/13 CNN report:"Crispin Hawes of Eurasia Group says Libyan oil production has made a strong recovery since Gadhafi's overthrow, but security issues, protests and labor disputes are putting further gains at risk. 'The operating security environment continues to deter some service companies from operating in the country at all while others that have returned to Libya are still only slowly ramping up their activities,' Hawes writes."

4/24/13 Times Live report: "What we are now likely to see in western Iraq is a deteriorating cycle of confrontation between the central government and protesters that will benefit extremist groups," said Crispin Hawes at Eurasia Group."

11/6/14 Bloomberg News report: "The surge in violence across northern and central Iraq, three years after U.S. troops withdrew, has raised the prospect of a return to sectarian civil war in OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government is struggling to retain control of Sunni-majority regions, and his army units in northern Iraq collapsed in the face of the Islamist advance." Hawes's take: "This can’t be looked at as anything other than a comprehensive failure by the Iraqi army. If the army can’t protect Mosul, how are they going to protect other cities, like Baiji. Moving southward would be the logical thing to do for ISIL."

11/19/14 Institutional Investor report"Chaos and Crashing Oil Prices Are Raising Anxieties in Middle East": "'ISIS has now supplanted al-Qaeda in the U.S.’s demonology of extremist groups, but it has already occupied a similar position for a growing number of Middle Eastern states,” says Crispin Hawes, a Middle East analyst at Teneo Intelligence in London. 'To Iran and its Hezbollah allies, ISIS is the bastard child of Western intervention and Wahhabi extremist anti-Shiism. To the Saudis, it is a revisitation by the Rule of Unintended Consequences, originally written during the 1980s Afghan war. To governments in Amman, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi and beyond, ISIS appears a very real and immediate threat.'"

9/24/15 Bloomberg News report: "The crushing of more than 700 people near the Saudi holy city of Mecca, the worst tragedy at the Hajj pilgrimage in a quarter century, poses the latest political challenge for a kingdom roiled by plunging oil prices and war...'A lot of money has been spent in Mecca, so there will be questions about accountability,' Crispin Hawes, managing director of Teneo Intelligence, said in a phone interview. 'This has the potential for a nasty political firestorm for the regime, and there will need to be a political response to what will be perceived as another egregious failure.'"

(Editor's Note: This article originally [embarrassingly] confused 2001 and 2011 when it was originally published, and wrongly claimed Crispin Hawes left Horizon shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Also, the Horizon consulting firm based in the UK that Hawes worked at until 2011 doesn't appear to be related to Horizon Oil and Gas Services, whose headquarters are in Iraq, so I nixed that from this article. )
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Analysts at consulting firm tied to Hillary Clinton are often critical of military action against ISIS

November 18, 2015, 2:54 pm
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Teneo Intelligence Managing Director Crispin Hawes argued that US government "demon[ized]" the terror group

Intelligence analysts who work for Teneo - a worldwide consultant firm with strong ties to the Clintons, since two of its co-founders were fundraisers for Hillary Clinton and the third, former President Bill Clinton "body man" Doug Band, "was part of the negotiation team that handled all aspects of Hillary Clinton’s becoming Secretary of State - are often quoted by the US media after terrorist attacks, but the company is very secretive about what clients it represents. Since the attacks on France on Friday the 13th of November, Teneo Intelligence analysts have been quoted at numerous media outlets regarding the terrorist group ISIS, such as Managing Director Crispin Hawes, who I reported about yesterday.

A Teneo Insight essay called "MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA:THE ISIS THREAT" written by Crispin Hawes published in December of 2014 shows how the firm has often been critical of military action against ISIS. Its bullet points are "ISIS has achieved its intention of provoking US and western engagement in Iraq", "Militarily it will struggle to match the forces now committed against it but will continue to pose a security threat", and "The harder task for Western governments will be to address the growing problem of radicalization within Muslim communities, a problem that will be fueled by western military action against ISIS."

Yesterday morning, on Bloomberg Television’s "The Pulse", Hawes "discuss[ed] the market reaction to the attacks in Paris and what it may mean politically for the whole of France." The Teneo Intelligence Managing Director opined that there isn't an "obvious policy solution", other than "air strikes", but "no Nato member" will likely send "ground troops into Iraq and Syria any time soon and, without that, ISIS will continue to be the standard-bearer of Islamic radicalism." A number of "western security agencies have foiled plots" but the "unfortunate truth is that" attackers "only need to succeed once, while security providers need a 100 percent success rate," Hawes noted, rather obviously. Ten months ago, during an interview on CNBC after a terrorist attack in Paris, Hawes pretty much said the same thing: "That it only takes one to succeed." Yesterday, when asked specifically what would happen if ground troops were deployed and successful against ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, Hawes said that "destroying that territorial control" wouldn't be enough to wipe out Islamicist activity, but offered no original thoughts on the matter.

Last December, Hawes wrote, "US President Barack Obama’s speech on 10 September, 2014 has cemented the reaction of NATO leaders in recent days to the decision of 'The Islamic State' jihadist group to behead two US nationals and distribute videos of their execution. While the president will have taken this decision publicly to target and threaten the organization reluctantly, this is precisely the reaction that the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) was seeking and its leadership will welcome the commitment to greater US involvement. The additional threat to kill a UK national also being held in Syria is intended to push UK politicians to cooperate with the US in military action against the group. ISIS’ leaders will be hoping that greater US engagement in Iraq will reinforce its appeal amongst its target constituencies and give the conflict greater resonance around the Muslim world by characterizing the conflict in Iraq and Syria as part of a wider war between Sunni Islam and its antagonists."

In the next paragraph, the Managing Director for the Intelligence division of a firm that once employed former US President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's longtime aide, Huma Abedin - while she still worked at the State Department and who now is the vice chair for the former Secretary of State's 2016 presidential campaign - as consultants, again, argues that talking tough about ISIS makes them grow stronger: "Obama’s well-trialed speech has completed the group’s meteoric rise to become the world’s most prominent jihadist organization – for 2014 at least. This prominence was inconceivable as recently as 2011 when the group had lost most of its leaders, while 12 months ago it was only one, although perhaps the best-organized, of a number of similar militias fighting the Syrian civil war. Now, having adjusted its nomenclature on the basis of its current domination of areas of eastern Syria and somewhat more tenuous control of parts of northwestern Iraq, the extremist jihadist ISIS has officially become the latest canvas onto which the region’s major actors – both within and beyond its borders – can paint their chosen nightmares."

In the third paragraph, Hawes argues that the US government has demonized the terror group. "Thanks to the brutal and public killings of James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, ISIS has now supplanted Al Qaeda in the US’ demonology of extremist groups but it had already occupied a similar position for a growing number of Middle Eastern states."

(Editor's Note: In 2010, when I was Executive Editor of RAW STORY, James Foley contacted us while embedded with the US troops in Afghanistan, and I convinced the owner that we should commission some of his articles. I edited one of Foley's articles - "In Kunar province, civilian deaths from Special Forces turn some Afghans against US" - myself, and assigned other staff members to work with him on other RAW STORY exclusives. "One Iraq veteran’s harrowing journey from the battlefield to suicide" and "Iraq vet, rattled by IEDs, ‘carried Ziploc bags full of pills’" are two other examples of Foley's work for RAW STORY.)

According to Hawes, ISIS "dragged US forces back into direct military involvement in Iraq", and "in UK and in other parts of Europe the media is convulsed by the possible threat posed by the apparent attraction ISIS offers to radicalized British Muslims, at least several hundred of whom are believed to be fighting with the group. Now ISIS’ decision to behead two US nationals has ensured its elevation to a new status as the West’s 'Public Enemy Number One'"

That "convuls[ion] and "possible threat" obviously was realized last Friday, when ISIS-linked terrorists killed over 120 people in France.

"But is ISIS really a strategic threat and if so, to whom?" Hawes asks, before conceding it is one. But then he quickly adds that its "battlefield successes and "prominence", along with "the professed enmity of the US" would "help in securing the assistance of allies."

Many Teneo consultants have criticized Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which, perhaps, might be related to thwarted business schemes by some of its clients. Kevin Roland, Managing Director at Teneo Strategy, once"served as the Trade and Investment Team Leader at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq from 2008-2009, working with Iraqi government, industry and foreign investors." Hawes continues the trend by essentially blaming the two government for allowing ISIS to reach "its current position of strength".

In June of 2014, another widely quoted Managing Director at Teneo Intelligence who used to consult for the Eurasia Group - Wolfango Piccoli - told CNBC Maliki is now paying the price for his often-combative approach to regional and international relations. At this juncture his inability or unwillingness to develop personal relationships is proving a weakness."

Last November, Bloomberg News reported, "The surge in violence across northern and central Iraq, three years after U.S. troops withdrew, has raised the prospect of a return to sectarian civil war in OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government is struggling to retain control of Sunni-majority regions, and his army units in northern Iraq collapsed in the face of the Islamist advance."

Hawes told Bloomberg News, "This can’t be looked at as anything other than a comprehensive failure by the Iraqi army. If the army can’t protect Mosul, how are they going to protect other cities, like Baiji. Moving southward would be the logical thing to do for ISIL." However, just a few weeks ago, as Michael R. Gordon reported for the New York Times, "Iraqi forces and the Shiite militias fighting alongside them announced Friday that they had retaken the oil refinery at Baiji from Islamic State militants, in some of the first significant progress against the extremist group after months of stalled efforts."

"The American-led coalition said that it had carried out numerous airstrikes at Baiji to weaken the militants as the Iraqi forces moved in," Gordon added. "A coalition spokesman said Thursday that there had been 43 airstrikes in Baiji over the past 30 days."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated a willingness to work with the US and France to retaliate against ISIS for the Paris attacks, but Teneo analysts have been arguing that his ties to Syrian President Assad will put a crimp in any cooperation on joint military strikes.

On Tuesday, The Chicago Tribune reported, "Coordination with Russia will be hampered by 'Moscow's unchanged long-term goal of sustaining' the Assad government, Carsten Nickel, an analyst at political-risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence, said in an email. Moreover, the risk remains of flare-ups in Ukraine that could 'help to re-ignite the conflict as soon as Moscow and the West seem to re-align their interests on Syria,' Nickel said." According to his Teneo bio, Senior Vice President for the Intelligence division Carsten Nickel used to be a consultant at the Eurasia Group, too.

One day after this article was published, on November 19, 2015, yet another Teneo Intelligence consultant who once worked for the Eurasia Group - Senior Vice President Otilia Dhand - was interviewed on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown" about "the changing relationship between Russia and the West over the fight against the Islamic State." Dhand said that Russia's aim was "strategic" and that it hoped to capitalize on the Paris attacks by portraying itself as a similar victim of ISIS, but that one of the issues that would be "difficult to compromise" with the US and UN would be the "non-negotiable aim of stabilizing the regime" of the Assad government.

As noted above, many Teneo consultants previously worked for the Eurasia Group, which some conservatives claim is tied to Clinton Foundation donor George Soros. The billionaire gave at least $1 million to "Priorities USA Action, a super PAC dedicated to airing ads supporting [Hillary] Clinton and attacking her opponents, Politico's Kenneth P. Vogel reported in July. Cliff Kupchan, who joined the Eurasia Group in 2005 was named chairman in October of 2014, and he once "held a senior position at the State Department, where he served as deputy coordinator of US assistance to Eurasia during the Clinton administration."

At least eleven Teneo employees hail from the Eurasia Group: Antonio Barroso, Wolfango Piccoli, Kevin Kajiwara, Carsten Nickel, Crispin Hawes, Anne Frühauf, Bob Herrera-Lim, Peter Hsieh, Marc Mercer, Otilia Dhand, and Alexandra Rogan.

According to GlassDoor.com, some analysts at Eurasia Group - which claims to be"the world’s leading political risk advisory and consulting firm" - earned close to $140,000 a year. The Wikipedia entry for Eurasia Group claims it generates $75-100M a year, while Glass Door claims only $1 to $5M. However, the latter appears to be outdated since it only lists 50 employees for the consulting firm, while the former claims 150 full-time and 500 part-time staff members.

In 2011, Bank of America "struck a deal with Eurasia Group to deliver the political-risk consultancy’s analysis to wealth-management clients and develop investment portfolios based on its opinion on geopolitical events."

"Under the accord, BofA’s 20,000 Merrill Lynch and US Trust advisers will have access to Eurasia’s global research," Justin Baer reported for the Financial Times on February 16, 2011. "The bank will also host conference calls with the consultancy’s analysts. Terms were not disclosed."

According to SourceWatch, "Eurasia Group used to publish a partial list of clients on its website, but no longer does." The most recent list from 2005 as shown at the Internet Archive included Amerada Hess Corporation, Bechtel, ChevronTexaco Corporation, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil and the Shell Corporation.

Teneo earned $3.4M in 2011 just from one of its first clients, the Rockefeller Foundation, as I previously reported. It's even more secretive about its clients and revenue than Eurasia Group, since only around 10 to 15 are known.

SourceWatch doesn't have an entry for Teneo. Lisa Graves, the Executive Director at the Center for Media and Democracy - which operates PRWatch, ALECexposed, KochExposed, and Source Watch - "formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, during President Bill Clinton's administration.

[Editor's Note: Eurasia Group was reportedly launched by its founder, journalist Ian Bremmer, with only $25,000, and while its funding is secretive, I couldn't find any evidence - except his appearance at a 2002 summit debate - that Soros is linked to it.]

DEVELOPING...MORE FROM TENEO'S 2014 INSIGHT ESSAY ON ISIS AND QUOTES IN THE MEDIA FROM THE FIRM'S INTELLIGENCE EXPERTS TO BE ADDED...ALSO WORKING TO COMPILE FULLER LIST OF TENEO CLIENTS

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Clinton Foundation celebrates top donor and Teneo client Coca-Cola; Coke exec took 'sabbatical' to work on Hillary Clinton campaign

November 24, 2015, 10:15 am
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Coca-Cola has given at least $5-to-10 million to the Clinton Foundation, and, as I've reported, is a client for Teneo: a rapidly growing consulting firm co-founded by former President Bill Clinton "body man" Doug Band, who helped 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's transition into the State Department as President Obama's Secretary of State, and two of her fundraisers, including Declan Kelly, who she appointed as the Economic Envoy to No. Ireland.

On November 6th, 2015, the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas "celebrate[d]" an exhibit devoted to Coca-Cola:

"'Share a Coke' with us at the Clinton Presidential Center at the opening of our 42nd temporary exhibit, Coca-Cola: An American Original on Friday, November 6, 2015. The exhibit celebrates the art and history of the contour bottle on its 100th Anniversary. In addition to showcasing the art and history of the iconic bottle itself, the exhibit will explore how the company worked with some of the country’s most noted illustrators and artists—like Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, Haddon Sundblom, and Howard Finster—to build its global brand as well as influence pop culture here in the United States and throughout the world.

Join us on November 6, as we celebrate the opening of the exhibit with a private preview of the exhibition and a program with special guests President Bill Clinton and Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola Chairman of the Board and CEO."
Earlier today, Candice Choi reported for the Associated Press, "A nonprofit founded to combat obesity says the $1.5 million it received from Coke has no influence on its work. But emails obtained by The Associated Press show the world's largest beverage maker was instrumental in shaping the Global Energy Balance Network, which is led by a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Coke helped pick the group's leaders, edited its mission statement and suggested articles and videos for its website."

"In an email last November, the group's president tells a top Coke executive: 'I want to help your company avoid the image of being a problem in peoples' lives and back to being a company that brings important and fun things to them.'

Coke executives had similarly high hopes. A proposal circulated via email at the company laid out a vision for a group that would "quickly establish itself as the place the media goes to for comment on any obesity issue.' It said the group would use social media and run a political-style campaign to counter the 'shrill rhetoric' of 'public health extremists' who want to tax or limit foods they deem unhealthy."
In another press release about the exhibit, Clinton Foundation executive director Stephanie S. Streett stated, "Coca-Cola is among the best-known brands in the world and we are thrilled to share its remarkable story with our guests. In addition to showcasing the art and history of the iconic bottle itself, this exhibit will explore how the brand influenced some of the country’s most noted illustrators and artists—like Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, Haddon Sundblom, and Howard Finster—as well as pop culture here in the United States and throughout the world.”

At the bottom of the press release, published at the Clinton Foundation's website, there is a paragraph "About The Coca-Cola Company", which claims the company "support[s] active, healthy living":

"The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and recognizable brands, the Company's portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, it is the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy Coca-Cola beverages at a rate of 1.9 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, the Company is focused on initiatives that reduce its environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for its associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where it operates. Together with its bottling partners, Coca-Cola ranks among the world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system associates. For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com, follow it on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo, visit its blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com or find it on LinkedIn atwww.linkedin.com/company/the-coca-cola-company."
Searching "coca-cola" at the Clinton Foundation website nets twelve pages of results.

A recent "Commitment to Action" published at the Clinton Foundation announced, "In 2013, The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, committed to refine and expand the Coca-Cola Coletivo platform through a $16 million investment across three countries in Latin America and 12 cities in Brazil. This will impact more than 34,000 people in Brazil alone by 2017. This commitment, which is integrated into TCCC's value chain and is co-funded by the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund, will enhance opportunities to find employment, create new business enterprises and strengthen the self-confidence of low income residents in affected communities. Coletivo was first launched in Brazil and this new collaboration will include three Coletivo models: Coletivo Retail, which focuses on young people in urban low-income communities who are seeking formal employment; Coletivo Recycling, which targets the professionalization of recycling cooperatives, generating increased income for waste collectors and formalizing the recycling value chain; and Coletivo Entrepreneurship, which provides practical training to begin and strengthen new businesses, with a focus on women."

Another recent one stated, "In 2013, The Coca-Cola Company, with a range of partners, committed to deploying 150 EKOCENTERs over a two year pilot phase to directly improve the physical, social, environmental, and economic wellbeing of more than 45,000 people. The EKOCENTER is an off the grid, modularly designed kiosk that will transform a standard shipping container into a hub of community activity by providing clean, safe drinking water, wireless communication, electricity, and other services to further enable community development within the world's population at the Base of the Pyramid. Coca-Cola will use a Golden Triangle approach to execute on this commitment, partnering with actors from the private, public, and non-governmental sectors. Deployment of the EKOCENTER is confirmed in Haiti, Mexico, the Philippines, Paraguay, Rwanda, South Africa, and the United States, with the intention to scale to over 10 more countries by the end of 2015."

A third recent "Commitment to Action"posted at the Clinton Foundation website adds, "In 2015, The Coca-Cola Company's Coca-Cola Africa Foundation committed $4.5 million over 3 years to underwrite the design and launch of the Youth Empowered for Success (YES!) program, a bold new initiative to create sustainable, safe, equitable, and productive jobs for youth across Africa. The YES! program will help young people access economic opportunities including: jobs, businesses, marketable skills, and financial services. The YES! program will be implemented in several African countries, to be determined based on assessment of need and partners."

As I reported in April, "In January, Teneo and American Ireland Funds sponsored "The Best of Ireland Gala" at the New York Athletic Club "to benefit The Children’s Medical Research Foundation and [Teneo Sports client Graeme McDowell's] GMac Foundation." Teneo CEO Declan Kelly - who was on the Board of Directors for American Ireland Funds (part of the Worldwide Ireland Funds) when they held Belfast luncheon for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012 - was the "Dinner Chairman" for the January 12th, 2015 event which honored New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and former Coca-Cola Refreshments President Brian Kelley - a Clinton Foundation donor who is now CEO for Clinton Global Initiative partner Green Mountain Coffee."

As I reported in March, Coca-Cola executives were on the VIP list for a Teneo-sponsored event featuring Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and George W. Bush - that the media was excluded from - held in September of 2012, when longtime Hillary Clinton aide and vice chair of her 2016 presidential campaign Huma Abedin was simultaneously working for the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, Teneo and for the former First Lady on a personal basis.

"One Thursday evening last September, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair met in New York to conduct what was supposed to be a high-minded discourse on terrorism, geopolitics, and the global economy," Alec MacGillis reported for the New Republic in 2013. "The setting was elegant—the beaux arts ballroom of the Essex House, an iconic tower on Central Park South. The 78-person VIP guest list included Harvey Weinstein, Eli Broad, Blackstone co-founders Steve Schwarzman and Pete Peterson, Silicon Valley impresario Sean Parker, Billie Jean King, George Pataki, and New York City police chief Ray Kelly, along with CEOs and top executives from companies like Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, BP, and Bank of America. Somehow, these onetime world leaders, corporate titans, and other notable personages converged in the center of New York without the event ever being noticed by the press."

MacGillis added, "The guests had been wrangled, persuaded, flattered, and otherwise enticed to attend by Doug Band, a tall man with genial, unmemorable features and a deferential demeanor. In fact, the gathering was taking place in his own building, underneath his expansive eighth-floor apartment, and it represented a major triumph for him."

In a May 27, 2015 article titled "A Coca-Cola exec's Hillary campaign sabbatical", Patricia Sellers reported for Fortune, "Wendy Clark, Coke’s North American marketing chief, is back from an unusual leave of absence. In January, when Coca-Cola KO 0.17% executive Wendy Clark took a three-month unpaid leave to help Hillary Clinton with her branding, colleagues predicted Clark would get sucked into politics and not return. Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent bet against them that his rising-star marketer would come back to Coke. He won 'multiple bets,' he says."

Sellers continued, "Now back full-time as Coca-Cola’s North American marketing chief, Clark declines to talk with Fortune about her secretive sabbatical, which she described to colleagues simply as her 'passion project.' But if you look at her Facebook FB -2.10% page or Twitter TWTR -0.32% feed, you’ll know that Clark is still doing all she can to help elect Hillary—off the clock that is."

On April 8, 2015 - in an article titled, "181 Clinton Foundation donors who lobbied Hillary's State Department", Jonathan Allen reported for Vox, "Likewise, Coca-Cola has given between $5 million and $10 million to the foundation. The company announced an investment of $200 million in Burma after Hillary Clinton worked to lift sanctions on that country. Even unions that blame Bill Clinton's NAFTA deal for killing American jobs, including the AFL-CIO, pop up on the crosstab of companies that donate to the foundation and lobbied Hillary's State Department. Coke, of course, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of NAFTA, which opened up Mexico, the country with the highest per-capita Coca-Cola consumption in the world."

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State Dept scrubbed name of woman who Hillary Clinton bashed for apparently rejecting appointment

November 25, 2015, 8:32 am
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An email forwarded from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Senior Advisor on political appointments was scrubbed by the State Department when it was published earlier this year. The former First Lady and New York Senator Hillary Clinton - who is the leading Democratic challenger in the 2016 presidential race - bashed the unknown woman's "sense of responsibility" in response to the forwarded email.

Even though the email was published on June 30, 2015, it appears to have gone unreported, perhaps because many news organizations cut back on researchers, and most journalists quickly move on to the next story.



On June 13, 2009, Margaret Carpenter, who "served as a Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on political appointments" from 2009 to 2010, wrote Department of State Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, "I finally connected with ___ by phone again this morning. I reiterated our interest in talking with her about the __." Not only was the name of the woman scrubbed, and the rest of the two-page letter, but Carpenter's position in the State Department seems to have been apparently scrubbed, as well.

A little more than an hour later, Mills forwarded the email to Hillary Clinton, adding, "FYI."

"I respect her reasoning, although I regret her sense of responsibility," Hillary Clinton quickly responded five minutes later.

Most probably just referring to the former part of Clinton's response, Mills joked back, "Why? Because it reminds you of someone we know and love - aka you? :)"

The Washington Post reported in October, "During her first four months at the State Department, Mills also held another high-profile job: She worked part time at New York University, negotiating with officials in Abu Dhabi to build a campus in that Persian Gulf city.

Rosalind S. Helderman's article noted, "At the State Department, she was unpaid in those first months, officially designated as a temporary expert-consultant — a status that allowed her to continue to collect outside income while serving as chief of staff. She reported that NYU paid her $198,000 in 2009, when her university work overlapped with her time at the State Department, and that she collected an additional $330,000 in vacation and severance payments when she left the school’s payroll in May 2009."

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Despite 'surveillance' clause, Canadian bank behind Hillary Clinton speeches denies collecting info on browsing activity

November 30, 2015, 8:07 pm
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A Canadian bank that paid top US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton up to $2 million or more for speeches was accused of gathering "information on all of its customers' online activities, even those that aren't banking-related."

On November 30, Rosa Marchitelli reported for "Go Public" on CBC News, "two lines" in its "66-page Visa cardholder agreement" allowed "Canada's second-biggest bank...to collect details about anything — and everything — customers do online."

Colin Laughlan - who "has a background in privacy issues as a former journalist and communications specialist" - noticed that in the "privacy section" of TD Bank's customer agreement (pdf link), it stated that, "COLLECTING AND USING YOUR INFORMATION — At the time you request to begin a relationship with us and during the course of our relationship, we may collect information including: Details about your browsing activity on your browser or mobile device. Your preferences and activities."

"I couldn't see any reason they had to do that sort of surveillance on Canadians and they weren't being particularly forthright about it," Laughlan told CBC News. "This was slipped in to the fine print of the policy and I'm well aware that the vast majority of people don't read these things."

Laughlan said he received three separate agreements that contained the same clause, and it took over eighteen months of complaints before turning to the media."

"Go Public put the issue to TD Bank Group, which responded with an email saying the intention was to allow the bank to collect information only when customers use TD websites and TD mobile apps," Marchitelli reported.
"'TD has never, at any time, collected general information regarding details about customers' browsing activity, their browser or mobile device,' the statement said.

The bank did remove the browsing clause from its online cardholder agreement, but it remains part of the printed version mailed out to customers. The bank tells Go Public that will change when the paper agreements need to be reprinted.

It will keep, however, the line that allows it to monitor customers''preferences and activities.' The bank said it uses that information for banking purposes, including managing products and services and assessing risk."
The CBC report added, "Sharon Polsky, the president of the Privacy and Access Council of Canada, believes that kind of general wording in user agreements opens Canadians up to sharing far more than they intended, and not just with banks," and that "TD seemed to be keeping its options open when it put the access to browsing information clauses in its Visa cardholder agreements."

"The waters are very murky," Polsky told CBC. "People do not realize very often that their information is being disclosed...It has a creepy factor...They can create a very, very detailed profile of each of us...what we do, where we go, what we think."

Earlier today, irate TD Bank customer @fred_diblasiotweeted, "I always liked @TD_Canada but this is a serious privacy issue!!! Read the fine print! Let them know your views!"@Schtaunkhauser tweeted, "And they worked so hard to obtain my trust. @TD_Canada has just blown it."

At its Twitter account, the bank is directing concerned customers to its online response which states, "CBC Go Public published and broadcast a story about wording in TD's credit card agreements, which incorrectly implied that TD could be monitoring customers' internet browsing habits. Here are the facts, which we repeatedly provided to the CBC."
"TD does not and has never collected general information regarding details about customers' browsing activity, their browser or mobile device. The language was in our agreements because our intention was that we may collect information when our customers use TD websites and TD Mobile Apps. We understand the wording may have caused concern. We removed it from our Online Privacy Agreement on TD.com in 2014. This reference will also be removed from print applications and agreements as they come up for renewed printing, since changes to printed Agreements take time to implement.

Preferences and activities in our agreement refer to customer interactions; i.e. preference to bank online or in person. Additional examples include: Receiving information by email or hard copy; Setting up direct deposit for payroll; Transaction frequency; Customer dealings with TD (in person, over the phone, at the ATM, on mobile, through email or the Internet).

Knowing this information helps us provide the service customers need and expect. We hope this clearly explains our practices and are available to answer questions or concerns from customers."
Before the CBC report, in a November 26 interview with Brand Channel, TD Bank Group's chief marketing officer and executive vice president Dominic Mercuri said, "The essence of the TD brand is about making banking comfortable and delivering legendary customer experiences at every point of interaction—in branch, over the phone, online and through our mobile app. As we look to be there for our customers, wherever they are, this extends to creating meaningful connections in their communities and through their social networks."

"We came to the social media space pretty early for a bank with the launch of a Facebook page in 2007. To meet the needs of our customers, we’ve grown on other platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn," Mercuri added. "In 2010, we launched our flagship program, 'Social Customer Service,' to connect with customers via Twitter and Facebook, and now have more than 70 agents dedicated to monitoring and responding to customers seven days a week, 17 hours a day throughout North America."

On May 31, Ryan Grim and Paul Blumenthal reported for Huffington Post, "Two Canadian banks tightly connected to promoting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in the United States either fully or partially paid for eight speeches made by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the period not long before she announced her campaign for president. Those speeches put more than $1.6 million in the Democratic candidate's pocket. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and TD Bank were both primary sponsors of paid Clinton speeches in 2014 and early 2015, although only the former appears on the financial disclosure form she filed May 15.
"Ali Duncan Martin, a TD Bank spokeswoman, told The Huffington Post in an email that the bank sponsored a series of speeches by both Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton starting in 2008. (Bill Clinton received more than $1.6 million for speeches sponsored by TD Bank, according to past financial disclosures.) The bank was the 'title sponsor or a co-sponsor of the events, with most events having a number of sponsors participating,' according to Martin. She declined to say how much the bank spent in sponsoring the speeches."
On June 26, 2014, Philip Rucker, Tom Hamburger and Alexander Becker reported for The Washington Post, "The Post’s analysis found that TD Bank underwrote 10 of Clinton’s speeches and paid him about $1.8 million, making it his largest single sponsor in the financial industry. TD Bank is affiliated with TD Ameritrade, founded by Joe Ricketts, a prominent donor to Republican campaigns and conservative causes."

"TD Bank spokesman Gabriel Weissman said he had 'nothing to add' to the public disclosures," the Post article added. "A spokesman for Ricketts declined to comment."

As Grim and Blumenthal noted, "Some details of Hillary Clinton's Canadian speechifying were first reported by independent journalist Ron Brynaert. The Clinton campaign did not respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment."

In early November, immediately after Clinton's Democratic primary opponent Senator Bernie Sanders bashed her for equivocating for years over whether or not she would support the pipeline, President Obama rejected it.

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New York Times journalist Michael Schmidt wrongly reports on Hillary Clinton emails again

November 30, 2015, 9:40 pm
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New York Times journalist Michael Schmidt desperately needs better editors or researchers before publishing articles on Hillary Clinton emails. In his latest story, he almost definitely assumes wrongly regarding the subject of a completely redacted email.

"Many of the emails released on Monday were heavily redacted, providing only tantalizing hints of what was being discussed. One exchange between Mrs. Clinton and Huma Abedin, a close aide, had the subject line 'Koch,' an apparent reference to either David H. or Charles G. Koch, the billionaire brothers who have helped finance conservative causes. Other than the subject, the entire email was redacted,"Michael Schmidt almost definitely misreports.

Since former Democratic NYC Mayor Ed Koch died on February 1, 2013, the Clinton email (pdf link) presumably refers to him. Koch also was a supporter of Hillary Clinton when she ran for president in 2008.



Update: Late Tuesday evening, The New York Times finally fixed Schmidt's article. The line was changed to "One exchange between Mrs. Clinton and Huma Abedin, a close aide, had the subject line 'Koch,' a reference to Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York City, according to the Clinton campaign." Popular Internet podcaster @VinceInTheBay tweeted, "There's a correction citing Clinton source. Why didn't he ask campaign before publishing?" Instead of an apology to readers, since it was reported in the newspaper and clearly wasn't fact-checked, there is an insufficient correction that states, "An earlier version of this article stated incorrectly the subject of a Hillary Clinton email that the State Department released on Nov. 30. The subject line “Koch,” was a reference to Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York City, according to the Clinton campaign; it was not an apparent reference to either David H. or Charles G. Koch, the billionaire brothers who have helped finance conservative causes."

"The New York Times made small but significant changes to an exclusive report about a potential criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's State Department email account late Thursday night, but provided no notification of or explanation for of the changes,"Dylan Byers reported for Politico on July 24.
"The paper initially reported that two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation 'into whether Hillary Rodham Clinton mishandled sensitive government information on a private email account she used as secretary of state.'

That clause, which cast Clinton as the target of the potential criminal probe, was later changed: the inspectors general now were asking for an inquiry 'into whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal email account Hillary Rodham Clinton used as secretary of state.'

The Times also changed the headline of the story, from 'Criminal Inquiry Sought in Hillary Clinton’s Use of Email" to "Criminal Inquiry Is Sought in Clinton Email Account,' reflecting a similar recasting of Clinton's possible role. The article's URL was also changed to reflect the new headline.

As of early Friday morning, the Times article contained no update, notification, clarification or correction regarding the changes made to the article.

One of the reporters of the story, Michael Schmidt, explained early Friday that the Clinton campaign had complained about the story to the Times.

'It was a response to complaints we received from the Clinton camp that we thought were reasonable, and we made them,' Schmidt said."
As I reported in July, The New York Times article by Michael S. Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo originally published on July 23, 2015 was full of so many mistakes that it probably merits its own internal probe, but one of the corrections added afterwards seems to blame "senior government officials" for the paper's misreporting.

"An article and a headline in some editions on Friday about a request to the Justice Department for an investigation regarding Hillary Clinton’s personal email account while she was secretary of state misstated the nature of the request, using information from senior government officials," a New York Times correction added to the article on July 25 stated, after the paper falsely reported the 2016 presidential candidate was facing a 'criminal referral' by two Inspectors Generals. "It addressed the potential compromise of classified information in connection with that email account. It did not specifically request an investigation into Mrs. Clinton."

A second New York Times correction to the same article on July 26 added, "An article in some editions on Friday about a request to the Justice Department for an investigation regarding Hillary Clinton’s personal email account while she was secretary of state referred incorrectly, using information from senior government officials, to the request. It was a 'security referral,' pertaining to possible mishandling of classified information, officials said, not a 'criminal referral.'"

Michael S. Schimdt has also ignored multiple tweets I've sent him regarding an article he wrote for The New York Times in March, which I believe wrongly reported that the Clinton aide who set up the private server currently works for Teneo. On March 17, 2015 Amy Chozick tweeted that the New York Times "will look into this," after I told her that the article seemed to be wrong about Justin Cooper's current employment. Other media outlets seem to have followed the Times lead, and may be wrongly reporting that he is currently with Teneo. The article was never corrected, and Chozick has ignored all the tweets I've sent her since then (see ).

On October 6 I reported, Last week, apparently without fact-checking, some members of the media - including The New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal - seemingly repeated the bogus (see The Hill) Clinton campaign assertion that Benghazi was the longest House Committee probe ever. Salon Deputy Politics Editor Sophia Tesfaye - who is also a researcher for Media Matters For America (who have defended the Clintons for a long time, as I reported with RAW STORY in 2006: "Senator Clinton made personal phone calls to raise money for ‘nonpartisan’ defender, employees say"), according to her LinkedIn resume - went further and compared it to investigations such as the Hurricane Katrina, Warren Commission, and Iran-Contra probes, without noting that most consider those probes too short or cover-ups of scandals. Ms. Tesfaye ignored tweets I sent her asking about this, but she - at least - updated her Salon story, while the Rosenthal editorial at The New York Times remains uncorrected.

A correction was finally added to Rosenthal's column eight days after it was published, after I tweeted Anna North - who "writes on cultural topics for the editorial page and is the editor of [The New York Times' editorial page editor's] blog": "When you edited @andyrNYT column with bogus Benghazi probe claim, did you fact-check? Will you fix? @annanorthtweets http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2015/10/democrats-spin-as-if-it-were-classified.html". However, I still think the correction should contain an explanation, especially since it appears to be based on a Clinton 2016 talking point.

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Teneo handpicking media for FIFA briefer raised a 'fuss', journo complains

December 7, 2015, 3:29 pm
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On the evening before more arrests were made in the ongoing investigation of alleged corruption by FIFA officials, a controversial firm co-founded by former President Bill Clinton's "body man" and two Hillary Clinton fundraisers - including CEO Declan Kelly, who was appointed US Economic Envoy to No. Ireland by the former Secretary of State now leading Democratic polls as she runs for president again - was accused of handpicking media for a press conference. As I exclusively reported on July 16, Teneo was paid $75,000 for fundraising to lobby FIFA officials with "Honorary Chairman William Clinton" by the USA Bid Committee which lost to Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup.

"Honduran Alfredo Hawit, acting president of CONCACAF, and Paraguay’s Juan Angel Napout, president of CONMEBOL – the two confederations that provide the 16 nations who compete in the Copa America – were picked up in dawn raids at the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich by Swiss police acting on instructions from the US Department of Justice," UK journalist Charles Sale reported for the Daily Mail on December 4.

The Wednesday evening press conference seemed to center on plans to increase the World Cup field to 40 nations and, perhaps, the news that another firm had secured television rights to another soccer tournament. The timing before the arrests appears to be somewhat convenient, since Teneo has many former US government employees working for it, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch launched the FIFA probe when she began her second term as a U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn in 2010, after being nominated by former Bill Clinton in 1999. As Sari Horwitz reported for The Washington Post on May 27, "In November 2010, former president Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. traveled to Zurich to lobby soccer’s world governing body in support of the U.S. bid to host the 2022 World Cup."

"Sports marketing giants IMG have embarrassingly received plaudits for winning TV rights to the 2016 Copa America tournament from the two FIFA chiefs arrested on Thursday on suspicion of accepting millions of dollars in bribes," Sale reported last Thursday.

Later, in the same story, Sale complained, "PR firm Teneo, who represent the American lawyers now effectively running FIFA, helped perpetuate the divisive atmosphere in Zurich by inviting a few handpicked media to a briefing with acting secretary general Markus Kattner the night before Thursday's press conference. A FIFA spokesman said it was common practice for such briefings to take place with a variety of media."

"There was a fuss," Sale told me on Saturday. When he asked me what would be the motive for Teneo "handpicking" media, I told him that I have been reporting on how journalists use the firm as sources for their stories, without mentioning its ties to the Clintons, and ducking questions related to longtime Hillary Clinton aide - and vice chair of her presidential campaign - Huma Abedin's controversial stint there from 2012 to 2013, while still working for the State Department.

In my September 16 article, "Controversial firm linked to Clintons handles press for $17.7 billion Cablevision deal," I reported, "The New York Times appears to have published a 'scoop' they received from a public relations firm tied to the top presidential candidate - but omitted mentioning either in their article - just to get an exclusive a few hours early. And since it's related to the creation of what will be the '#4 cable operator in the US market', which affects millions of US voters, this omission of news might be disturbing to watchdogs. Teneo sometimes gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a month by clients, and both entities inherently have common ground to make each other look good to the public.
"Teneo is a senior-led advisory firm with deep collective experience working at the highest echelons of the public and private sectors," the Teneo Holdings website states. "Our team has a rich knowledge base and global network of relationships that we bring to bear on behalf of our clients every day."

If that "global network of relationships" includes New York Times reporters, then - in a sense - this rapidly growing international firm, which has been criticized for using government connections across the world to woo clients and accused of milking those links, controls the media on multiple levels. Teneo is especially secretive about their long list of clients - including "the CEOs of many Fortune 100 companies across a diverse range of industry sectors" and "senior leaders of many of the world’s largest and most complex companies and organizations" - and notorious for not commenting on controversies involving itself.
I added, "In their rush to publish an exclusive a few hours early, the reporters didn't even apparently attempt to contact any critics of the deal. And a day later, any story already is in danger of becoming old news. Business journalists reporting on firms that have deep political ties and that will affect how many Americans receive their news should leave room for criticism in all their articles. But not quoting critics might have been a condition of the 'scoop', as well."

Last year, on December 8, 2014, Michael J. de la Merced, "scooped" the world on a story directly related to Teneo, reporting, "Teneo, a corporate advisory firm with an unusually broad array of businesses, has secured backing from the big private equity firm BC Partners, the company plans to disclose this week."

However, Merced's article doesn't make any reference to how he learned about the "company plans". The New York Times reporter doesn't mention a source, named or unnamed, which might be a violation of the paper's rules on journalism ethics.

Merced does paraphrase an exclusive quote he apparently got from one of Teneo's presidents, but, again, there are ethical concerns, if a top business journalist for - arguably - the most important paper in America is publishing stories - that omit key information - based on tips from a powerful P.R. firm. "The investment from BC Partners came about through friendships that some of the firm’s senior executives have with Teneo’s management, according to Richard Powell, the head of Teneo’s communications arm."

I've also reported in two stories after the ISIS-linked attacks in Paris, about how the media rely on Teneo Intelligence consultants for stories, even though the firm is secretive about what oil companies it represents. See "During terror attacks, Teneo Intelligence Managing Director Crispin Hawes reassures oil investors" and "Analysts at consulting firm tied to Hillary Clinton are often critical of military action against ISIS" for more on this, and I will have related stories in the future.

A New York Times reporter who apparently attended last week's "hand-picked" press conference handled by Teneo, left out its connections to the Clintons in his story, but he wasn't exactly fawning of what Kattner said before and after the arrests.

"At a briefing with reporters Wednesday night, Mr. Kattner staunchly defended the right of the executive committee to implement such a change on its own, despite the significance of the decision and despite its lack of consultation with any of the stakeholders it would affect, notably television rights-holders, sponsors and national and continental federations," Sam Borden reported for The New York Times on December 5th.

Borden's story continued, "(He also defended as proper the bizarre inclusion of an item in the proposal that had nothing to do with governance — the imminent expansion of the World Cup to 40 teams from the current 32 — when it seemed to be little more than a sweetener for FIFA members who will vote to ratify these changes at February’s Congress.)"

"Even Thursday, after more reasoned voices on FIFA’s executive committee prevailed and the possible World Cup expansion was separated from the governance items, Mr. Kattner did not seem to grasp the latent hypocrisy that would have come with an executive committee’s endorsing proposals that would reduce its power while, simultaneously, using that power to make a unilateral decision on a huge change to a showpiece event," Borden added.

However, Borden did praise FIFA for hiring Teneo, sometime in late June and early July, a few weeks before the news broke, another UK journalist told me over the summer.

"In recent months, FIFA has hired a well-regarded American public relations firm, Teneo, to shepherd it through this crisis," Borden wrote, instead of calling it controversial due to its tight-lipped connections to governments across the globe and the Clintons. "It was a good decision, but one that cannot be a panacea. FIFA needs to change. Identifying and effecting new structures and policies and functions is one part of that. The other part — a part that, in some ways, is even more significant — is finding the right people to make the public believe in the changes."

Like other New York Times reporters I have criticized for their stories on Teneo clients which don't mention either Clinton, Borden ignored many tweets I made, such as, "I guess when Teneo 'hand-picks' you to attend exclusive FIFA press conference, it's "smart" to call them 'well-regarded' in NYT"and, "I'm sure you're working hard on story on how 'well-regarded' Teneo is probably secretly lobbying US gov't officials for FIFA. ;) @SamBorden."

Last Wednesday's "handpicked" press conference also included reporters from the AFP, Reuters, the BBC and Swiss and German news outlets, according to Lane.

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Former State Secretary Hillary Clinton touted consultant as 'good friend' during Hong Kong speech

December 16, 2015, 5:19 pm
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12/19 UPDATE: 3 years after Hillary Clinton shout-out, Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) held luncheon for Teneo Strategy Managing Director Nancy Bowen

On July 25, 2011, while serving as Secretary of State, top 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave a shout-out to her "good friend" during a speech in Hong Kong about how the United States could "intensify" its "economic partnership" with the Asia-Pacific region. That "good friend" worked for former President Bill Clinton in the White House, then for the Clinton Global Initiative, owned a Hong Kong based consulting firm, was later hired by Teneo - a firm co-founded by two of her fundraisers and her husband's former "body man" - and donated $6,900 to her unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign.

The Free Beacon recently reported that during the former NY Democratic Senator's tenure at the State Department, Hillary Clinton sometimes asked "underlings and staffers" to "pls print" up "lists of expensive China patterns, restaurants, and shopping destinations overseas".
"'Sorry for the delay in getting a shopping list together. It has been a busy week. Do you have an advance person here? Do you need me to make any arrangements for you? I know many of the shop owners/designers I am recommending (but not all of them.),' Nancy Hernreich Bowen said in an email to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, the beleaguered wife of Anthony Weiner, in an email subject-lined, 'Hong Kong shopping.'

Bowen works for Teneo Holdings, a company tied to the Clintons and former White House counsel Doug Band. Abedin drew a $355,000 salary from Teneo while she was working at the State Department. A department inspector general report found that she had been overpaid by thousands of taxpayer dollars, findings that are now being reviewed."
However, aside from the fact that Free Beacon is one of many numerous media outlets that continue to misreport how much Abedin was paid by Teneo (which I'll address in a future story), Bowen wasn't hired by Teneo until February of 2012, nine months after Huma Abedin forwarded Clinton the email.

On May 15, 2012, Teneo announced in a press release, "Teneo today expanded its presence in Asia with the opening of a new office in Hong Kong. To lead Teneo’s Hong Kong office, Nancy Hernreich Bowen joined Teneo Strategy as a Managing Director."

"Ms. Bowen has lived and worked in Asia for over eleven years," the press release state. "Most recently, she served as a senior advisor for McLarty Associates and managing director of NHB International, a Hong Kong based consulting firm which she founded in 2001. In this role, she utilized her experience, knowledge of Asia and senior level U.S. and Asian business and government relationships to assist Asian and American businesses with their cross border business interests. She has assisted clients with Asia and U.S. trade strategy, relationship-building, issues and crisis management and public relations."

The press release added, "As managing director of the Clinton Global Initiative Asia from September 2007 to December 2008, Ms. Bowen was responsible for the planning and execution of the event, which included more than 400 of the most influential Asian business, government and civil society leaders held in December 2008. Prior to that, she was assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations from 1993 to 2001. Her responsibilities in the White House included: managing the president’s office, where she oversaw communications at all levels with the president; directing access to the president; maintaining his priorities and schedule; and, as his longest serving senior aide, advising him on a range of issues and presidential matters."

At LinkedIn, Nancy Hernreich Bowen's resume notes that she began working for Teneo in February of 2012. Former President Bill Clinton consulted for Teneo in 2011 and Huma Abedin was secretly hired - while still working at the State Department - by the consulting firm in July of 2012.

On August 15, 2005, Brown was a guest lecturer at the Asia Institute for Political Economy where she spoke about "The Role of the Executive in the US Government" (pdf link). Her biography contains some of the same wording Teneo used in its press release.

"Ms. Nancy Hernreich-Bowen served as Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations at the White House, helping to manage the President's day to day dealings with the Cabinet, Congress, foreign officials and business leaders. Working with the Chief of Staff, National Security Advisor, Cabinet Secretaries as well as heads of state and CEOs, Ms. Hernreich-Bowen represented the President's interests in the planning and execution of policy initiatives and responses to international events.

Ms. Hernreich-Bowen, who traveled extensively in Asia, Europe and Latin America as a member of official presidential delegations, is now Managing Director of NHB International, a Hong Kong-based consulting firm. She assists international companies with investment, business development, product sourcing and market access needs, building on her extensive experience coordinating policy, private sector and presidential priorities and supporting trade missions, economic summits and international meetings through Asia. Ms. Hernreich-Bowen represents Kissinger McLarty Associates in Hong Kong and assists clients with interests in the Asia-Pacific region."
Just like most Teneo consultants, it's extremely difficult to find out exactly what clients Bowen represents and how she uses her U.S. government connections to help them. Due to that secrecy, it's nearly impossible to find out if there were any conflicts of interest with the State Department during Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State, and - as I've reported - many journalists use Teneo analysts as sources or don't mention the firm when they report on some of its known clients.

"Btw, this is an impressive list!" future Hillary Clinton presidential chair Huma Abedin told her boss when she forwarded the July 20, 2011 email from Bowen on July 25, the day of the Hong Kong speech (pdf link). And Bowen offered to call ahead and make arrangements with some of the jewelry merchants she was recommending to Clinton.

Bowen added, "Let me know what else you might be interested in shopping for and I'll make additional suggestions. See you Monday and do let me know if there is anything else I can do for you."

During her Hong Kong speech, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that "it was made possible by the U.S., Hong Kong, and Macau chambers of commerce and the Asia Society. And I thank the chamber very much on a personal level for its support of the U.S. Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. I have been called the mother of the pavilion, which is actually one of the nicer things I’ve been called – (laughter) – during my very long public career."

"Hong Kong stood out then, as it does today, as a symbol of the open exchange of goods and ideas," Clinton added. "People were drawn to this place from every part of the world, even far away Arkansas, as evidenced by a good friend of ours from Arkansas, Nancy Hernreich Bowen, who is here with us today."

Clinton said she came to Hong Kong "to talk about how the nations of this region and the United States can intensify our economic partnership on behalf of ourselves, each other, and the world, and how together we can work toward a future of prosperity and opportunity for people everywhere."

Bowen also works as an "expert" for ChinaGoAbroad, and her biography at their website also continues similar wording to her Teneo biography, touting her US government connections.
"Nancy Hernreich Bowen is currently the Managing Director for Asia with Teneo Strategy, an integrated global advisory firm that provides consulting, investment banking, business intelligence and restructuring capabilities at the Chairman and CEO level across a broad range of industries and sectors. She served as Managing Director for the Clinton Global Initiative Asia from 2007 to 2008, and has lived and worked in Asia since 2001 in her capacity as founder and Managing Director of her own firm, NHBI, and as a Senior Advisor to McLarty Associates. Prior to her time in Asia, she served as an Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations in the Clinton White House.

In her current role, Ms. Bowen oversees Teneo’s activities in Asia, bringing decades of experience and relationships in business and politics to support companies throughout the region. Specific expertise include, but are not limited to, public affairs, government affairs, crisis management and communications, market entry and development, identification and due diligence of joint venture partners and investment opportunities, as well as problem solving across a broad range of complex markets.

As Managing Director of the Clinton Global Initiative Asia from September 2007 to December 2008, Ms. Bowen was responsible for the planning and execution of a two day event that brought together over 400 of the most influential Asian leaders across business, government and civil society. The CGI Asia Hong Kong meeting was the first CGI meeting held outside of the United States and provided these leaders with an opportunity to discuss important global issues and to make personal, actionable commitments to help solve challenges in the areas of education, health, climate change and energy.

As Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations from 1993-2001, Ms. Bowen designed and implemented the systems that enabled the White House staff, Cabinet Secretaries and other parties to interact with the President. While overseeing the President’s contact with Congressional leaders and other elected officials, corporate leaders and foreign officials, Ms. Bowen had frequent direct contact with parties at the highest levels. She also traveled extensively with the president to countries throughout Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Within the White House, Ms. Bowen coordinated daily with the White House Chief of Staff, the National Security Advisor and Cabinet Secretaries. In this capacity, she represented the President's interests in the planning and execution of his priorities. As the President’s longest serving senior aide, one of her key roles was to manage the competing demands for the President's time and attention, and to make decisions that had positive policy and public relations ramifications. She managed an extensive staff in the White House and was responsible for the budget of her office. In her capacity as advisor to the President, Mrs. Bowen was required to be well versed in domestic and foreign issues, exercised impeccable judgment and maintained absolute discretion and utmost diplomacy.

Prior to joining the White House, Ms. Bowen was the Director of Scheduling for Governor Clinton from 1985 to 1993. She currently serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations."
According to a ChinaGoAbroad press release, "On 23 July 2015, the Reignwood Group and Sinopec Engineering Group signed an MOU in Beijing for the joint development of a huge new industrial park in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The park will house coal chemical plants, steel mills, shipyards and ports. Total investment for the project is expected to range between US$ 18-20bn."

"ChinaGoAbroad and TransAsia Lawyers are honored to have been appointed to provide strategic transactional advice and legal services, respectively, to the Chairman of the Reignwood Group," the press release added.

On April 16, 2013, a press release announced, "Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has announced that it is working with Reignwood Group to develop an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) pilot power plant off the coast of southern China. A memorandum of agreement between the two companies was signed in Beijing on Saturday. Following the ceremony, both companies met with United States Secretary of State John Kerry during his first official state visit to the People’s Republic of China."

"The 10-megawatt offshore plant, to be designed by Lockheed Martin, will be the largest OTEC project developed to date, supplying 100 percent of the power needed for a green resort to be built by Reignwood Group," the press release continued. "In addition, the agreement could lay the foundation for the development of several additional OTEC power plants ranging in size from 10 to 100 megawatts, for a potential multi-billion dollar value."

It added, "In addition to several other green energy-related projects across a variety of industries, Reignwood Group is currently developing two large scale low-carbon resort communities, with others planned in key locations in China. Using Lockheed Martin’s OTEC technology to power a new resort will help the company to develop its first net-zero community."

According to a Reuters article published today, "China summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires in Beijing to protest against the U.S. administration's authorization of $1.83 billion arms sales to Taiwan and said it would impose sanctions on the firms involved, China's state news agency Xinhua reported."

"Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang, who summoned U.S. charge Kaye Lee", Reuters reported via Xinhau, "described the U.S. sales authorization announced on Wednesday as going against international law and basic norms of international relations and said that they 'severely' harmed China's sovereignty and security. 'To safeguard our national interests, China has decided to take necessary measures, including imposing sanctions against the companies involved in the arms sale,' Zheng said."

As Reuters noted, "Raytheon RTN.N and Lockheed Martin were the main contractors for weapons in the sales authorized on Wednesday," but it's "not clear what impact Chinese actions might have on the firms. In 2013, Lockheed Martin signed an agreement with the Thailand-based Reignwood Group to build a 10-megawatt offshore plant to provide energy for a new luxury resort on Hainan island in southern China."

According to FEC filings, on May 7, 2015, Nancy HernReich Bowen donated $2,700 to "Hillary For America". On June 5, 2007 Bowen contributed $4,600, in total, to "Hillary Clinton for President" for the general and primary elections. And on August 8, 2008, Bowen gave $2,300 to "Friends of Hillary."

12/19 UPDATE

Three years after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton singled out her longtime friend - who used to work in the Clinton White House and Clinton Global Initiative before becoming a Hong Kong based consultant to unknown clients, and has donated nearly $10,000 to the leading Democratic presidential candidate's campaigns - in a Hong Kong speech promoting economic relations with East Asia, China's official Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) held a luncheon for the Teneo Strategy Managing Director.

At its website, a picture sourced to the foreign ministry's Department of American and Oceanian Affairs, shows the beaming Teneo Strategy Managing Director Nancy Hernreich Bowen posing with CPAFFC's president, two other executives and an unidentified person (who may be Teneo CEO Declan Kelly - the former US Economic Advisor to No. Ireland who was appointed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after raising millions for her unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign).

"President Li Xiaoling met with and held a luncheon for Ms. Nancy Hernreich Bowen, Managing Directer, Teneo Strategy (Asia) on 10th February in Beijing," CPAFFC's website announced in 2014. "President Li briefed Ms. Bowen on the work of people-to-people diplomacy CPAFFC carried out with the United States over the past years, noting that the strengthening of people-to-people exchange between our two nations can play a critical role in helping build a new type of major country relationship between China and the USA."

The website added, "Ms. Bowen expressed thanks to President Li for taking time out of her busy schedule to meet with her, and she said that the closer economic and trade cooperation is conducive to the overall development of China-US relations, she was willing to provide necessary assistance. Vice President Xie Yuan attended the above-mentioned activities."

Three months later, according to the CPAFFC website, "The Sixth China-US Relations Conference, hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Texas A&M University, co-hosted by Peking University Health Science Center and the Texas Medical Center was held from May 11 to 13 in Houston, Texas, United States."

"The participants include Mr. Xu Kuangdi, vice chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of China-US People’s Association, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai to the U.S., President Li Xiaolin of CPAFFC, Vice Minister Liu Qian of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, Neil Bush, third son of former U.S. President George H.W.Bush and president of the Points of Light Foundation, President Michael Young of Texas A&M University, Mayor Annise Parker of Houston, Thomas Frieden, Director of U.S. Centers for Disease Control. U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Bidden sent congratulatory messages respectively to the conference," the website added.
"U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Bidden sent congratulatory messages respectively to the conference. President Obama said 'The world we live in today is a community of nations. The United States and China are dedicated to realizing a future that shines with the health of all people---one we will only reach by working together. In addressing global health challenges, America and China have a common interest of historic consequence. Together, America and China can rise to the challenges of our changing world and meet our moral obligations.' Vice President Bidden said that the cooperation between U.S. and China on global issues like infectious diseases are doing the ground work for US-China relations, and will benefit all people.

Xu Kuangdi delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the conference. He spoke highly of the great impact that the past five China-US Relations Conferences have made and highly commended President George H.W. Bush’s consistent efforts and contribution to the development of China-US relations and the growth of China-US friendship, as well as Neil Bush’s efforts in carrying on this conference forward. He also praised the great efforts that the hosting organizations---the CPAFFC and Texas A&M University have done. He pointed out that in the 21st century, the world is faced with increasing nonconventional security and global challenges. It is crucial for China and the U.S. to work together in combating the common challenges, which is pivotal for peace and progress of mankind.

...

During the conference, over 400 government officials, experts and business leaders attended the conference and held in-depth discussion on national preparedness of public health, emergence response, prevention and control of infectious diseases like Ebola, and the role of private sector in the global health response system. They also brought up constructive proposals on the future cooperation of China and the U.S. in relevant fields.

Before the conference opens, Xu Kuangdi, Li Xiaolin, Cui Tiankai and Li Qiangmin paid a visit to President George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush at Neil Bush’s home in Houston."
Four months before her Hong Kong speech, on March 11, 2011, the U.S. State Department's DIPNOTE blog noted that "From February 25-28, Hunan Province Party Secretary Zhou Qiang visited Washington, DC to attend the National Governors Association (NGA) Winter Meeting. Secretary Zhou's visit is the first by a Chinese provincial leader under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Secretary Hillary Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in January concerning the establishment of a U.S.-China Governors Forum to promote subnational cooperation. The forum will serve as a platform to promote peer-to-peer exchanges between U.S. state governors and Chinese provincial party secretaries and governors and will be co-convened by the NGA and the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), the NGA's counterpart in China."

"Secretary Clinton greeted Party Secretary Zhou and CPAFFC Vice President Madam Li Xiaolin at the U.S. Department of State and expressed her continuing support for the subnational effort," DIPNOTE blog continued. "Party Secretary Zhou and Madam Li also met with Under Secretary for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Kritenbrink, and National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Jeff Bader."

It added, "During the NGA meeting, two other accords were signed, one between the NGA and the CPAFFC formally establishing the U.S.-China Governors Forum and the other between Hunan Province and the State of Delaware to increase business exchanges and investment promotion. With the agreement, Governor Markell hopes to increase jobs and opportunities for the citizens of Delaware by increasing exports and attracting investment from international employers."

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