Andy Kessel’s Woes at the Clinton Foundation

Kessel told MDA “There is no controlling Bill Clinton. He does whatever he wants and runs up incredible expenses with foundation funds, according to MDA’s account of the interview. “Bill Clinton mixes and matches his personal business with that of the foundation. Many people within the foundation have tried to caution him about this but he does not listen, and there really is no talking to him.”

MDA compiled Kessel’s statements, as well as over 6,000 pages of evidence from a whistleblower they had been working with separately, which they secretly filed with the FBI and IRS over a year ago. MDA has alleged that the Clinton Foundation engaged in illegal activities, and may owe millions in unpaid taxes and penalties.

From a personal standpoint, I am grieved at this: Andy Kessel and I were friends at the St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton together, we reconnected years later. He told me he joined the Clinton Foundation after a successful career on Wall Street as a giveback. I really think that Andy was trying to do a good thing.

Unfortunately, in a culture like Bill Clinton came out of, doing a good thing is easier said than done, and I think that Andy was unprepared for that. My dearly departed mother, who was born and raised a few miles north of Bill Clinton’s hometown of Hot Springs, told me one time that the Arkansas way was “If you can’t win, cheat.” She knew this opaque culture she came out of well, and she wasn’t shy about using it against others when she felt the need to do so. (She wouldn’t vote for Bill Clinton either.)

It’s easy when looking at Clinton’s Ivy League education and his successful political career which led him to two terms as President (he outsmarted Newt Gingrich and many others, too) to forget that he’s a product of his Scots-Irish origins and upbringing. But that upbringing made him the masterful politician that he is. The Ivy League business–and to some extent Hillary herself–were necessary to build “street cred” with the Democrat elite. But the core never changes. (That’s something you need to remember about Elizabeth Warren, too.)

My prayers are with Andy and his family. He’s going to need them. I think he’s a good guy who is finding out that it’s easier to be Bill Clinton’s enemy than his friend.