Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah meets U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Royal Palace in Riyadh February 15, 2010. REUTERS/Saudi Press Agency/Handout
Originally appeared at DWN, translated by Karin exclusively for SouthFront
Saudi Arabia is believed to massively finance the US election campaign of Hillary Clinton. Numerous donors from the Gulf States fund the Clinton Foundation. The proximity of the Saudis to the Clintons is probably one of the reasons why Russia has concerns over Clinton being in the White House.
Current findings show Saudi Arabia as one of the main financiers of the US presidential election campaign of Hillary Clinton. “Saudi Arabia has always sponsored both, Republican and Democratic parties in America (…) The kingdom pays, even with great enthusiasm, 20 percent of the cost of the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton – despite the fact that some influential forces within Saudi Arabia have negative views about it because she is a woman “, the Jordanian news agency Petra quoted the Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman. According to the US election donations law it is actually forbidden to accept money from foreign governments.
Apparently there is a close relationship between the Saudi royal family and the Clintons. The Latin American television Telesurtv reported that the Clinton family and the Saudi royal family are no “strangers in exchange of favors”. Other countries that are to have supported the Clintons with donations are Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica. All together, these states have donated $ 20 million.
The closeness of the Clintons to the Gulf States and in particular the Saudis might be the reason for Russia’s massive effort against Clinton: Russia has threatened to publish the Clinton emails. The juicy details from the correspondence are surely a liability to affect Clinton’s chances for election. Russia is fighting on the side of Syria against IS, the Saudis are the most important ally of the radical militias and finance numerous mercenary troops in the Middle East.
As the Middle East Eye took up the news of Clinton’s campaign-finance, the news agency Petra contacted the Middle East Eye. An employee of the agency said that Petra was a target of a hacker attack. The information about Clinton’s campaign-finance therefore would be false. The accuracy of this denial remains unexplained.
Mohammed bin Salman and Bill Clinton supposedly have met in September 2015 in Washington at the Four Seasons Hotel. That was before bin Salman entered into a lucrative lobbying deal with John and Tony Podesta, both are some of the closest assistants of Hillary Clinton, reports The Intercept. John Podesta is not only one of the main lobbyists for the Saudis in the US, but also the campaign manager of Hillary Clinton.
The Podesta Group organized the current visit of the Saudi prince in the United States. During the visit, the Saudi Crown Prince supposedly has met with representatives of Google, the US Chamber of Commerce and the arms industry, reported the Gulf Institute.
Last year the book “Clinton Cash, Questions Foreign Donations to Foundation” by US author Peter Schweizer went on sale. The book is a detailed analysis on the financing – and in this context, the donors – of the Clinton Foundation. “We will see a pattern of financial transactions, including the Clintons, see who made in the US policy decisions in favor of their donors (…) During the years of the civil service of Hillary, the Clintons conducted hundreds of large transactions with governments and individuals or allowed them”, quotes the New York Times Schweizer.
Among the donors to the Clinton Foundation are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Norway. This shows a statement of the Clinton Foundation. Also the Saudi businessman and adviser to the Saudi royal family, Nasser al-Rashid, the group “Friends of Saudi Arabia”, the Arab billionaire from Abu Dhabi, Abbas Ibrahim Youssef, the Algerian Embassy, the former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to the USA, Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, the Saudi businessman Hamza B. Al Kholi, the Kuwaiti company Al Sayer Group, the Kuwaiti businessman Musaed N. Al Saleh, the billionaire from Qatar, Ali Bin Ali Al Muslimani, Said Abu Hajleh from USAID organization DAI Palestine, member of the Supreme Council of the UAE, Sultan bin Mohamed al-Qasimi are on the donor list of the Clinton Foundation.
The Washington Post rates particularly problematic the fact that the donations from Arab governments to the Clinton Foundation were flowing during her tenure as Foreign Minister (2009 to 2013). This might also have affected her acts and decisions as the Foreign Minister.
