DOJ Asked to Issue Subpoenas as Clinton Jobs Statement Renews Honest Services Fraud Questions

If Hillary Clinton Does Not Believe Corporations and Businesses Create Jobs, then Her Work While Secretary of State to Help Boeing Sell Aircraft to Russia Must Not Have Been About Creating American Jobs, Group Says

National Center for Public Policy Research Renews Call for Honest Services Fraud Investigation of Boeing $900,000 Contribution to the Clinton Foundation During the Same Timeframe Then-Secretary Clinton Helped Boeing Sell Aircraft to the Russian State Airline

National Center Asks Justice Department to Subpoena Related Documents and Emails from Boeing and the Clinton Foundation and to Request Relevant Documents from the State Department

Washington, D.C. – In light of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks that businesses do not create jobs, the National Center for Public Policy Research is renewing calls for an honest services fraud investigation into the relationship between Boeing and Secretary Clinton, and is asking the Department of Justice to issue subpoenas.

In April at Boeing’s annual shareholder meeting, the National Center asked Boeing CEO W. James McNerney why Boeing risked an honest services fraud investigation by making a nearly million dollar donation to the Clinton Foundation in the same timeframe then-Secretary Clinton made what she called “a shameless pitch” to Russia’s state airline to buy Boeing planes, a pitch that resulted in a $3.7 billion Russian contract with Boeing.

The question, asked by National Center Executive Director David Almasi, was a followup to an April 13 Washington Post story by Rosalind Helderman. The question received worldwide news coverage, including the in the Drudge Report, Fox News’ “Cavuto,” Britain’s Daily Mail (David Martosko), Fox News’ “Politics” (Chris Stirewalt), CBS, and a followup story in the Washington Post, among others.

The Clinton Foundation defended Secretary Clinton’s work for Boeing to the Washington Post, saying Secretary Clinton “proudly and loudly advocated on behalf of American business and took every opportunity to promote U.S. commercial interests abroad.” Boeing spokesman Sean McCormack told the Post Secretary Clinton was working to “encourage exports and create jobs.”

“If Secretary Clinton believes that corporations and businesses do not create jobs, as she said in a speech Friday, her ‘shameless pitch’ to the Russian state airline on Boeing’s behalf must not have been about creating American jobs,” said Amy Ridenour, chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research. “This re-raises the question: Why did Boeing give the Clinton Foundation, which currently employs Secretary Clinton and every member of her immediate family, and provides the family with a lucrative public platform, $900,000 at about the same time Secretary Clinton was doing Boeing a major favor?”

The National Center provided a timeline of key events and a description of the honest services fraud issues raised by the Boeing contribution to the Clinton Foundation in a press release here.

The Washington Post reported in April that Boeing did not immediately reply when asked for a response to the National Center’s question.

At the shareholder meeting itself, Boeing CEO W. James McNerney told the National Center’s Almasi that he was “highly confident that we followed the letter and the spirit of the law” despite the National Center’s “indication that you made which is that it is beyond the pale.”

“At the shareholder meeting, Mr. McNerney told the National Center he was ‘confident’ Secretary Clinton ‘would have advocated for Caterpillar’s tractors or GE’s turbines with equal fervor… with or without these few [Boeing] donations,'” added Ridenour. “Maybe he was, but we now know Secretary Clinton doesn’t believe corporations and businesses create jobs. So why would she advocate abroad for Caterpillar or GE or any other business – unless, perhaps, it too was donating?”

Jonathan Allen and Annie Linskey of Bloomberg Businessweek reported that, “Twenty-nine of the 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average index companies have given money or in-kind support to projects branded by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, according to a review of Clinton Foundation and U.S. State Department reports… Twenty-five of the Dow’s 30 corporations have contributed directly to the Clinton charities; 27 announced philanthropic projects through the Global Initiative… The companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which are leaders in their industries, collectively spent $193 million last year lobbying the federal government and the U.S. Congress…”

An unnamed political strategist in Boeing’s home state of Washington told the Daily Mail‘s David Martosko that the National Center question of Boeing was “obnoxious,” but also that Boeing’s CEO “sounded defensive.” He told the Daily Mail that “Probably half of the Fortune 100… makes these kinds of donations.”

“We believe the Department of Justice should issue subpoenas to Boeing and the Clinton Foundation for all emails and other documents relating to that $900,000 Boeing gift to the Clinton Foundation, and request from the State Department all related documents in its possession,” said Ridenour. “At a time of tremendous international unrest, why was America’s Secretary of State selling airplanes to Russians, if she didn’t believe the sale would help American jobs? Did Boeing’s $900,000 donation play a role?”

“Secretary Clinton is indirectly telling us in her speech that her role in the airplane sale was not about the public interest, which means it was in someone’s private interest. Would those someones be Boeing and the Clinton Foundation?,” Ridenour asked.

“And if other corporations are paying-to-play, as the saying goes, they should be investigated, too,” Ridenour concluded.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, three percent from foundations, and three percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors.

Contributions are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

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The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.