Trade Dispute Centers on Ukrainian Executive With Ties to Clintons--NYT
Trade Dispute Centers on Ukrainian Executive With Ties to Clintons
By AMY CHOZICKFEB. 12, 2014
Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton have built a sprawling network of powerful friends around the globe, one that could aid Mrs. Clintons chances were she to seek the presidency. But those relationships often come with intersecting interests and political complications; few people illustrate that more vividly than the Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk.
A steel magnate and major contributor to the former presidents foundation, Mr. Pinchuk was in frequent contact with Mrs. Clintons State Department, at meetings arranged by a Clinton political operative turned lobbyist, Douglas E. Schoen.
And now Mr. Pinchuk is at the center of a trade dispute that places him at odds with steelworkers in Pennsylvania and Ohio, precisely the kind of union workers Mrs. Clinton would need to appeal to in a presidential campaign.
Mr. Pinchuks relationship to the Clintons became the subject of scrutiny last summer when American steel makers filed a case alleging that Ukraine and by extension Mr. Pinchuks company, Interpipe Ltd. and eight other countries had illegally dumped a type of steel tube used in natural gas extraction, an industry whose growth has provided one of the few bright spots in the United States manufacturing sector.
The Commerce Department is expected to issue a preliminary ruling in the case as early as Thursday. If it decides that dumping occurred, it could impose duties on Interpipes steel imports, which, analysts say, would push the indebted company deeper into financial distress.
The situation has taken on new urgency for Interpipe, given the political crisis in Ukraine, which has led to a virtual block on imports of its steel products to Russia. Interpipe had hoped to make up for lost revenue with increased sales in the United States.
Spokesmen for the Clintons declined to comment on the relationship. Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said that from Jan. 21, 2009, to Feb. 1, 2013, her entire tenure as secretary of state, Mr. Pinchuk was never on her schedule.
Mr. Pinchuk, 53, is one of Ukraines only oligarchs to have deep ties to Washington. Many of the countrys richest businessmen are suspected of having links to organized crime and do not have visas to the United States, much less a relationship with a former and potentially future American president.
Still, Mr. Pinchuks image is not without blemish: His father-in-law is Leonid Kuchma, who was president of Ukraine from 1994 to 2005 and led a government criticized for corruption, nepotism and the murder of dissident journalists. As president, Mr. Kuchma privatized a huge state steel factory and sold it to Mr. Pinchuks consortium for about $800 million, which competitors said was a laughably low price.
Since 2006, Mr. Pinchuk has donated roughly $13.1 million to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Mr. Clinton attends Mr. Pinchuks annual conferences in the resort city of Yalta, Ukraine, and Mr. Pinchuk attended the former presidents 65th birthday party in Los Angeles.
He was first introduced to Mr. Clinton in 2004 by Mr. Schoen, a New York-based pollster who has advised both Clintons. Mr. Pinchuk immediately began building a friendship with the former president and enthusiastically donating to Mr. Clintons causes, including an H.I.V. program that was later expanded into Ukraine.
Mr. Schoen had been on a $40,000-per-month retainer as an adviser to Mr. Pinchuk since 2000. In 2011, Mr. Schoen, who had never previously done any lobbying, registered as a lobbyist for him to set up meetings with Washington officials to discuss the political crisis in Ukraine.
The meetings Mr. Schoen scheduled were almost exclusively with senior officials at Mrs. Clintons State Department.
Mr. Schoen arranged roughly a dozen meetings with State Department officials from September 2011 to November 2012 on behalf of or with Mr. Pinchuk. At times those meetings overlapped with Mr. Pinchuks other involvements with the Clintons. For instance, in 2012, Mr. Pinchuk took a break from the Clinton Global Initiative to meet upstairs in a hotel suite with Melanne Verveer, a close aide to Mrs. Clinton and ambassador at large for global womens issues at the State Department.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/us/politics/trade-dispute-centers-on-ukrainian-executive-with-ties-to-clintons.html?_r=2
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Who knows - it's likely private and was deleted.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)Mr. Pinchuk and his wifethe daughter of former Ukraine President Leonid Kuchmabegan donating to Clinton charities in 2006 after being introduced to Mr. Clinton by Doug Schoen, a pollster who has worked for both Clintons.
In 2008, Mr. Pinchuk made a five-year, $29 million commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative, a wing of the foundation that coordinates charitable projects and funding for them but doesnt handle the money. The pledge was to fund a program to train future Ukrainian leaders and professionals to modernize Ukraine, according to the Clinton Foundation. Several alumni are current members of the Ukrainian Parliament. Actual donations so far amount to only $1.8 million, a Pinchuk foundation spokesman said, citing the impact of the 2008 financial crisis.
During Mrs. Clintons time at the State Department, Mr. Schoen, the pollster, registered as a lobbyist for Mr. Pinchuk, federal records show. Mr. Schoen said he and Mr. Pinchuk met several times with Clinton aides including Melanne Verveer, a Ukrainian-American and then a State Department ambassador-at-large for global womens issues. The purpose, Mr. Schoen said, was to encourage the U.S. to pressure Ukraines then-President Viktor Yanukovych to free his jailed predecessor, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Mr. Schoen said his lobbying was unrelated to the donations. We were not seeking to use any leverage or any connections or anything of the sort relating to the foundation, he said.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)I don't know why it is "Off the Table" even for discussion here on DU! This is NOT good for Hillary. Not good for her as Presidential Candidate.
What is our Dem Party thinking Crowning her So Soon? If she is the best candidate then let her answer questions and have BACK UPS in the Primaries who will ask those questions about POLICY going forward.
What about our "Endless Wars?" Will she even be asked about how things will change with that under BILL CLINTON II?
SHE CAN WIN!!!!
Not sure what, exactly, would be won, other than more catering to Wall Street and the MIC, more outsourcing of jobs, etc. etc.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)I worry our Democrats have lost their minds or their way....but, then I've wondered that for awhile, now. It's as if it's TWO TEAMS...and with our Sports obsession we focus only on WHO CAN WIN..at ALL COSTS. And, just like sports in USA now ...it's the Owners and the Franchise that have the POWER with the Cable Contracts and their Wealth and the rest be damned they think they pay the Players (American Citizens) well enough and who cares as long as people keep watching, paying the high price for tickets to stadiums (taxpayer financed) and the money for Cable to be able to watch.
It's all the same to me. I'm sure others would differ ...but, aren't we now just Ticket Buyers being gamed?
antigop
(12,778 posts)"The only winning move is not to play."
KoKo
(84,711 posts)I never saw the movie...but it sure makes it's point in the snip.
"The only winning move is not to play." But...there's so much money to be Made from WAR for the few who profit. How they can live with the death, destruction and dislocation they cause is beyond my comprehension, though.
antigop
(12,778 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)...
#5) Sociopaths seek to dominate others and "win" at all costs. They hate to lose any argument or fight and will viciously defend their web of lies, even to the point of logical absurdity.
...
#10) Sociopaths are delusional and literally believe that what they say becomes truth merely because they say it! Charles Manson, the sociopathic murderer, is famous for saying, "I've never killed anyone! I don't need to kill anyone! I THINK it! I have it HERE! (Pointing to his temple.) I don't need to live in this physical realm..."