This email has also been verified by Google DKIM 2048-bit RSA key

Re: Scarborough says Algeria donated to Clinton Foundation when it wanted off 'terror list' | PunditFact

From:aelrod@hillaryclinton.com To: jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com CC: jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com, HRCrapid@googlegroups.com Date: 2015-04-28 20:51 Subject: Re: Scarborough says Algeria donated to Clinton Foundation when it wanted off 'terror list' | PunditFact

Really great. Sent from my iPhone On Apr 28, 2015, at 6:47 PM, Jennifer Palmieri <jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: excellent! On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 6:43 PM, Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com > wrote: > Scarborough’s claim rates False. > > > http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/apr/28/joe-scarborough/scarborough-says-algeria-donated-clinton-foundatio/ > > Scarborough says Algeria donated to Clinton Foundation when it wanted off > 'terror list' > > Television pundits are raising a lot of questions about *foreign > government donations* > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/foreign-governments-gave-millions-to-foundation-while-clinton-was-at-state-dept/2015/02/25/31937c1e-bc3f-11e4-8668-4e7ba8439ca6_story.html?hpid=z2> > to the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of > state. > > But not everyone get all the details right. Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s *Morning > Joe *flubbed describing the situation in the April 27 show. > > He was discussing *a column* > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sloppiness-and-greed/2015/04/24/e4d53446-eaa9-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa_story.html> > by the *Washington Post*’s Ruth Marcus, whose op-ed highlighted an > unreported donation to Bill Clinton’s foundation by Algeria in 2010 as an > example of sloppiness. The donation, and others like it, raises questions > about whether Clinton went "soft" on Algeria for contributing to her > husband’s cause under the appearance of earthquake relief in Haiti, Marcus > wrote. > > Scarborough said the situation will "stink to high heaven" even if it’s a > legal gray area. > > "I think it was Algeria, maybe, that had given a donation that went > unreported at a time when they wanted to be taken off of the terror list in > the State Department," Scarborough said. "They write the check, they get > taken off the terror list. ... At the same time, and then it goes > unreported by the Clinton Foundation." > > "Is there a quid pro quo there? I don't know, that's really hard to tell," > he said. > > Scarborough went on to break down to his panelists how easy it would be to > explain to voters what might have occurred. > > "This is pretty simple stuff. So Algeria is on the terror list, they want > off the terror list, the State Department's making a decision to do it, > they write a check for what? How much? How many million dollars do they > write a check for? I don't know, but Algeria writes a check. You're from > Boston, you know how politics works. They write a really big check to the > Clinton Foundation," Scarborough said. "The Clinton Foundation takes the > check, and then just, out of nowhere the State Department then decides, > well, they are going to take Algeria off the list. Now why did Algeria > write a big check to the Clinton Foundation at the time they want something > from the State Department? That's pretty simple for most voters." > > The problem with all of this isn’t the donation, or questions about a quid > pro quo with Algeria. It’s the fact that Algeria wasn’t ever on the terror > list. (*Media Matters* > <http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/04/27/msnbcs-scarborough-invents-algerian-terror-conn/203435> first > pointed out what Scarborough said.) > > *An ally against terror* > > The list Scarborough mentions is a serious designation given to just four > countries the State Department considers *state sponsors of terrorism* > <http://www.state.gov/j/ct/list/c14151.htm>: Syria, Iran, Sudan and Cuba. > President Barack Obama is poised to *remove Cuba* > <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/world/americas/obama-cuba-remove-from-state-terror-list.html> > from the list as a show of improved diplomatic relations. (Libya, Iraq and > North Korea are the only countries that have been removed.) > > Algeria is actually a key partner of the United States in fighting > terrorism in North Africa and "has a long history of fighting terrorism," > the *State Department says* > <http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/224823.htm>. > > The country spent about 20 years locked in a civil war between the > military and various Islamist groups after an Islamist group won a 1991 > election that was scrapped. The country’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, > lifted a state of emergency in April 2011. > > But the country continues to *struggle with radical violence* > <http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/170479.pdf> in neighboring > countries. Algeria was attacked by the group that calls itself al-Qaida in > the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb almost 200 times in just 2013 in the form > of improvised explosive devices, bombings, kidnappings, and fake roadblocks. > > *Human rights violations hamper relations* > > The Algerian government is not a state sponsor of terror. But its hands > are not clean when it comes to human rights, which is most likely what > Scarborough was trying to recall on air. > > The *Washington Post* story that revealed the Algerian embassy’s donation > of $500,000 also mention that the one-time gift coincided with increased > lobbying visits to the State Department about human rights violations. > > In 2010, Algeria spent more than $420,000 lobbying American officials on > inter-country relations and on "human rights issues," the *Post* found, > citing documents filed as part of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The > year also saw an increase in meetings between State Department officials > and lobbyists representing Algeria, growing from "a handful" of recorded > visits in the years before and after to 12 visits in 2010, the *Post* > reported. > > The Algeria donation came soon after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake in > Haiti, the *Clinton Foundation said* > <https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press/facts#sthash.CbslGu5F.dpuf>. It > was unsolicited and went to the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund, > "where the entire amount of Algeria’s contribution was distributed as aid > in Haiti." Algeria had not donated before and has not donated since, a > foundation spokesman said. > > The foundation acknowledged it did not alert the State Department about > the gift for vetting, which was required under a memorandum of > understanding between the Obama administration and the Clintons in an > effort to prevent foreign governments from trying to curry favor with > Hillary Clinton’s State Department by donating to Bill Clinton’s > philanthropy. > > So what are the human rights issues Algeria was lobbying on? > > Reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the State > Department outline the activities of a strict authoritarian government that > represses its people’s freedom of assembly and association, overuses > pretrial detentions, and employs a judicial system that is susceptible to > corruption. > > The State Department’s 2010 report of human rights issues in Algeria > highlights more issues including reports of arbitrary killings, the > government failing to account for people who disappeared during the civil > war in the 1990s, violence and discrimination against women, and continued > restrictions for workers’ rights. > > The *government of Algeria* > <http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/nea/154458.htm> has resisted > inspections by independent human rights groups. > > MSNBC's Diana Rocco said Scarborough deserves some credit for indicating > he "wasn’t sure it was" Algeria, and that the exchange that followed > "clearly shows he’s using it as a hypothetical scenario to make his larger > point about how the quid pro quo scenario may have unfolded." > > None of that, though, means that Algeria was on the terror watch list in > the first place. > > Neither Algeria nor other governments revealed to have given to the > foundation — Australia, the Dominican Republic, Kuwait, Norway, Oman and > Qatar — are sponsors of terrorism, either. > > *Our ruling* > > Scarborough was trying to recall the details of a news story about Clinton > Foundation donations from foreign governments when he brought up Algeria’s > donation to the foundation to try getting off the "terror list." > > There are parts about the donations that may not look good for Clinton. > Maybe it becomes a legal problem, maybe it’s just a political one. But to > claim the foundation took donations from a country on the terrorist list is > inaccurate. > > Scarborough’s claim rates False. > > > Sent from my iPhone > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "HRCRapid" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to hrcrapid+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to hrcrapid@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRapid" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrapid+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to hrcrapid@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRapid" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrapid+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to hrcrapid@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.