Clinton Cash

++I sold several cartons of Clinton books several weeks ago because they were taking up space and had no earthly value. Everything from WhiteWater to Monica Lewinsky. Some of the same people who penned these tomes are involved in the $400 million scheme to go after Hillary. There is Karl Rove and Citizens United, who brought us the last Hillary documentary which took down campaign finance laws.

++During the Clinton era, mystery writer and chronicler of American foibles, James Ellroy said he wanted to write novels about the Clinton era. That would be interesting but he hasn't produced.

++We've had the Benghazi books but they couldn't tell whether Obama or Hillary were the villains. But now we have Clinton Cash, which pretends to be the revelation of how the Clintons got superrich and used the Clinton Foundation to manipulate American foreign policy. Unfortunately, the New York Times, the Washington Post gave credibility to its author, a former speechwriter to W and foreign policy consultant to Sarah Palin.

++So far the New York Times has produced two stories both centered around Canadian Frank Giustra , a millionaire who gave buckets of money to the Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Development Project.

++The first story concerned the Colombian Free Trade Pact, which was supported by Giustra but only buried in the story was that Hillary opposed it until Obama wanted to see whether they could get better labor rights and environmental protections into it. The story couldn't confirm that Hillary had any contact with Giustra.

++OK, story number two looks hot. Vladimir Putin acquires 20% of America's uranium through a company named Uranium One. The article details Putin's global effort to monopolize uranium production and how this is a national security threat to the United States. Naturally, this was at a time when Russian relations were on a "Reset" and we were cooperation with nuclear arms reduction.

++The State Department approved the sale of then Uranium One to the Russians. The plot thickens. Unless you read the article microscopically you would not know that the State Department guy in charge of approving the sale one "Jose Fernandez" said on the record that Hillary never interfered with his decision.

++Another fact conveniently left out was that State was only one out of 9 different agencies who approved the deal.

++And the State Department approved the sale of the remaining segment of Uranium One to the Russians after Hillary Left.

++Since this terrible breach of national security occurred because the Clinton Foundation's donor had ties with Hillary, it should be noted that Frank Giustra sold Uranium One three years before any of this happened.

++Ok, by another Clinton donor named Tilfer picked up the company and sold it to the Russians. But the article admits they never talked to him. He says he has never met or talked to either Clinton. His donation was to support his friend's Sustainability Project.

++On the surface of it, this looked like a barnburner of a piece which would wound Hillary Clinton. The Business Insider led with the piece yesterday and it has gained traction. But no one has actually walked through the piece. It not only doesn't prove a quid pro quo but suggests the Clinton's had nothing to do with any of this.

++That's not to say Bill is out of the water. The piece has Bill in Kazakhstan negotiating business that involved that country's uranium. He denied it to the New York Times but author Jill Becker called him to say there are photos and indeed there are. If anything, Hillary has to watch out for Bill's chronic willingness to lie or obfuscate when it's not necessary. One of his lawyers prior to the impeachment hearing said that if Bill had admitted to his affair with Jennifer Flowers in the beginning none of the circus that overtook Washington would have ever happened.

++So far the great Clinton Cash stories haven't touched Hillary directly. But husband Bill will be brought into this and even his involvement isn't clear. 

++Watch out for these stories. They make great reading but you soon get the timelines are all off. Giustra sold off his company years before the questionable transaction and in the Colombia case he started his affairs in that country in 2007 and his actions could not be tied to Hillary because she hadn't even run for President and no one knew she would become Secretary of State.

++Even the author of the book Clinton Cash admits there is no smoking gun--but he encouraged more reporters to dig into it. 

++That's not to say the Clinton machine doesn't create problems of its own. Yesterday they announced they had to re-file five years of taxes. We forget that Obama beat Hillary because ,in part, he kept a tighter ship.