Image 01 Image 03

Corruption Tag

You think Americans have suffered in 2016, what about Samsung? Two exploding phones, exploding washing machines, and now prosecutors raided its headquarters due to allegations that the company gave money to the daughter of President Park Geun-hye's confidante Choi Soon-sil. Authorities believe Choi "exerted influence over public affairs, despite having no official role in government, and that she used her political and business ties to benefit her daughter, an equestrian athlete." This has led to a downfall in Park's approval ratings and resignations in her administration.

As we are learning that the FBI files reveal "missing bankers' boxes filled with the former secretary of state’s emails.," veteran FBI agents are expressing their concern that Comey's approach to the Hillary case has "damaged the reputation" of the FBI due to his insistence that the agency politicize the investigation and its results. Fox News reports:
Buried in the 189 pages of heavily redacted FBI witness interviews from the Hillary Clinton email investigation are details of yet another mystery -- about two missing “bankers boxes” filled with the former secretary of state’s emails. The interviews released earlier this month, known as 302s, also reveal the serious allegation that senior State Department official Patrick Kennedy applied pressure to subordinates to change the classified email codes so they would be shielded from Congress and the public.

The FBI has sent over some of the classified documents and notes from their untaped interview for their Hillary Clinton investigation to the House Oversight Committee in order to understand why Director James Comey did not recommend charges against her. However, Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz said the FBI heavily redacted the majority of the documents:
“As the chairman of the chief investigative body in the House, it is significant I can’t even read these documents in their entirety,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah told Fox News. “This shows how dangerous it was to have this intelligence, highly classified to this day, on the former secretary’s unsecured personal server where it was vulnerable.”

According to The Daily Caller and CNN, the FBI and several U.S. Attorney offices have opened an investigation into the Clinton Foundation even though the Department of Justice objected to one. The officials met several months ago about the possibility of a case:
At the time, three field offices were in agreement an investigation should be launched after the FBI received notification from a bank of suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to the official.

The latest batch of Hillary Clinton emails show that right after she became Secretary of State, top donors asked the State Department for favors for unidentified associates. In April 2009, Clinton Foundation official Doug Band sent an email to Clinton's top aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin about a favor. He reminded them it is important to take care of [Redacted]." Officials blacked out the name, but Abedin said "Personel has been sending him options." This is not the only one, though.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has continued his rhetoric that the West had a hand in the failed coup three weeks ago. Why is all of this important? Turkey is still a member of NATO and the U.S. uses their base to strike ISIS in Syria. He said:
"The West is supporting terrorism and taking sides with coups," Erdogan said, adding that forces unhappy with Turkey's rise as a regional power were behind the coup.

On Saturday night, Turkish forces and protestors surrounded the Incirlik Air Base, which the U.S. uses to conduct airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. The government claims the incident was merely a safety inspection. https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status/759530079076712448

Turkish journalist Mahir Zeynalov spent this morning tweeting pictures and bios of some of the journalists detained by the Turkish government. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seems to think they have connections to Fehtullah Gülen, who he blames for the coup, or at least that is the excuse for the round up. https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov/status/759021471045980160

What a shock. Judicial Watch discovered that top IRS officials, including Lois Lerner and Holly Paz, knew that the agency targeted conservative groups before they told Congress. Judicial Watch reported:
The FBI documents also reveal that IRS officials stated that the agency was targeting conservative groups because of their ideology and political affiliation in the summer of 2011. According to one senior tax law specialist, “The case seemed to be pulled because of the applicant’s political affiliation and screening is not supposed to occur that way … [Redacted] said he thought the cases were being pulled based upon political affiliations.” And IRS senior official Nancy Marks, appointed by [then-acting Commissioner Steven] Miller to conduct an internal investigation stated, “Cincinnati was categorizing cases based on name and ideology, not just activity.”

I watched the new documentary film "Clinton Cash" based on the book by Peter Schweizer this week and all I can say is the Clintons' corruption is worse than most people know. As a full time blogger, I watch cable news and monitor political news all day every day and even I didn't know the extent of the Clintons' influence and the way they've used it to enrich themselves and others. I think most members of the general public would be horrified by what's presented in this film.

The Turkish parliament has formally approved a three month state of emergency after a failed coup last Friday. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promises its needed to protect Turkey's democracy:
“The aim is to rapidly and effectively take all steps needed to eliminate the threat against democracy, the rule of law and the people’s rights and freedoms,” Mr. Erdogan said.

Russia prides itself in sports, but the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended agencies ban the country due to a massive doping scandal that reaches the government. They found:
1. The Moscow laboratory operated, for the protection of doped Russian athletes, within a State-dictated failsafe system, described in the Report as the Disappearing Positive Methodology.

The UN's Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) has found during their nine month investigation that the organization simply ignores corruption when it comes to light. The investigators found that UN officials remain in a "state of near denial" about this corruption:
“The report is pretty devastating,” observes Brett Schaefer, an expert on U.N. finances at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “The U.N. apparently has very little interest in policing fraud, and there is very little reason to believe its own figures and data about it.”

The Supreme Court unanimously overturned Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's bribery conviction. They do not think the prosecutors proved "he took significant official actions in exchange for the $175,000 in gifts and loans he received from a wealthy businessman."

Hillary Clinton has a brand new scandal to deal with. The ongoing investigation into her emails has revealed that a donor to the Clinton Foundation landed a plum appointment with a government intelligence board despite the fact that he had no relevant experience. ABC News has the story:
How Clinton Donor Got on Sensitive Intelligence Board Newly released State Department emails help reveal how a major Clinton Foundation donor was placed on a sensitive government intelligence advisory board even though he had no obvious experience in the field, a decision that appeared to baffle the department’s professional staff. The emails further reveal how, after inquiries from ABC News, the Clinton staff sought to “protect the name” of the Secretary, “stall” the ABC News reporter and ultimately accept the resignation of the donor just two days later.

The U.S. has investigated numerous naval officers over possible connections to a Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn "Fat Leonard" Francis, who bribed leaders with whiskey, prostitutes, and cash. A California court unsealed three indictments on Friday against three Naval soldiers to face charges of working with Fat Leonard. The courts already charged Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khiem Misiewicz, 48, with bribery and conspiracy. From The Los Angeles Times:
Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khiem Misiewicz, 48, pleaded guilty earlier to one charge of conspiracy and one charge of bribery. Prosecutors said that for nearly two years, he accepted gifts, travel, stays at fancy hotels and the services of prostitutes — all paid for by Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis, the owner of a port servicing company that supplied Navy ships across the Pacific. In exchange, Misiewicz gave Francis confidential information on ship schedules for the U.S. 7th Fleet, for which he served as deputy operations officer in 2011 and 2012. He also used his influence to try to steer ships to ports in Asia that were controlled by Francis’ company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, prosecutors said.

Cleta Mitchell is a conservative activist who has been very vocal about the IRS scandal which involved the targeting of conservative Tea Party groups in the run-up to the 2012 election. She recently appeared on C-Span and an alleged IRS employee called into the show and explained to her that he would target these groups because they want to abolish the IRS. Ali Meyer reported at the Washington Free Beacon:
IRS Employee Admits He Would Go After, Target, and Try to End Conservative Groups A self-identified IRS employee admitted he would go after, target and try to end conservative groups who wanted to abolish the IRS, to Cleta Mitchell, an attorney representing those groups, on a Washington Journal segment on C-SPAN.

The new film "Hillary's America" is opening this summer right before the Democratic convention and so is a documentary called "Clinton Cash" which has an obvious focus. The New York Post provides an overview:
First look at explosive Hillary documentary, ‘Clinton Cash’ Hillary Clinton says that when she and her husband moved out of the White House 15 years ago, they were “dead broke.” Today, they’re worth more than $150 million. In the new documentary “Clinton Cash,” it becomes all too clear how the former first couple went from rags to filthy rich — with the emphasis on filthy.