Rachel Maddow explores ‘Clinton Cash’ book’s connection to New York Times, Washington Post

By Erik Wemple April 21 at 2:12 PM

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow last night arched an eyebrow or two over the news that two big newspapers are taking an early peek at Peter Schweizer’s impending book, “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.”

As first reported by the New York Times, Schweizer’s publisher, HarperCollins, has hammered out arrangements with Fox News, The Washington Post and the New York Times to pursue “story lines” from the book, which reportedly outlines allegedly cozy relationships that run through the Clinton family: specifically, foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation receiving favorable treatment from the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. “We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds,” Schweizer writes, according to the New York Times.

In her assessment of these goings-on, Maddow found no news whatsoever in the fact that Fox News was partnering with Schweizer. “There’s no real surprise that before this book hits the shelves, none other than the Fox News Channel has an exclusive television deal to report on the explosive contents of the book. Tonight, the host at FOX News who is called Bret Baier had a special report on this new book. If that’s not enough for you, this Friday an hour-long special on it, ‘The Tangled Clinton Web.’ ”

-snip-

As we pointed out yesterday, Schweizer has something of a history as a right-leaning rabble-rouser. He’s the guy who alleged in an awful Politico Magazine story that President Obama had barely met with then-Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in the years leading up to the launch of the disastrous HealthCare.gov. In pursuing that piece, which stemmed from the work of Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute, the reporter apparently didn’t contact the White House for comment.

Bad move, because months later, the Hill blew Schweizer’s piece out of the water. Using official documents, the Hill reported, “Sebelius met with or attended calls and events with Obama at least 18 times between Oct. 27, 2012, and Oct. 6, 2013, including at least seven instances in which the two were scheduled to discuss the new healthcare law.”

A similar Schweizer effort alleging that President Obama had skipped all manner of security briefings also suffered considerable debunking.

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