Clinton Cash
Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich is a 2015 investigative book authored by Peter Schweizer, president of the nonprofit Government Accountability Institute, which specializes in government transparency research.[1] Published by HarperCollins on May 19, 2015, with ISBN 978-0062369284, the work draws on public records, Freedom of Information Act requests, and financial disclosures to chronicle over $2 billion in contributions to the Clinton Foundation from foreign sources between 2001 and 2013.[1][2] The book alleges patterns of potential influence peddling, wherein donations and high-value speaking fees to Bill Clinton—totaling over $100 million during Hillary Clinton's 2009–2013 tenure as U.S. Secretary of State—preceded favorable U.S. policy actions toward donors, including the approval of the Uranium One deal involving Russian acquisition of American uranium assets and shifts in U.S. positions on foreign nuclear agreements.[3][2] Schweizer highlights specific timelines, such as contributions from entities linked to governments in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan coinciding with State Department advocacy or approvals beneficial to those donors, framing these as indicative of a "pay-to-play" dynamic rather than isolated coincidences.[3][4] While the allegations prompted journalistic follow-ups, congressional inquiries, and FBI probes into the Clinton Foundation's activities, no criminal charges resulted, with Schweizer himself acknowledging the absence of direct evidence of illegality but emphasizing circumstantial patterns derived from verifiable data as grounds for scrutiny of ethical lapses in public service.[5] The publication, which reached The New York Times bestseller list, also inspired a documentary film and intensified public discourse on conflicts of interest in post-government political fundraising, though mainstream outlets often critiqued its reliance on associative rather than prosecutorial proof.[1][6]Background
Author and Research Approach
Peter Schweizer, author of Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, is an investigative journalist who founded and serves as president of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2012 to probe crony capitalism, governmental corruption, and misuse of taxpayer funds.[7] Schweizer holds an M.Phil. in international relations from Oxford University and previously worked as a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, as well as consulting for NBC News and the White House.[8][9] GAI's research methodology emphasizes sophisticated tracking of financial transactions, government documents, and public disclosures, coupled with rigorous fact-checking and a policy against relying on anonymous sources to maintain transparency and verifiability.[7] The organization conducts investigations confidentially to avoid subject interference and focuses on empirical patterns rather than unsubstantiated allegations.[7] For Clinton Cash, released on May 5, 2015, by HarperCollins, Schweizer led a year-long GAI investigation that examined timelines linking foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation—totaling over $2 billion since 2001—and high speaking fees to former President Bill Clinton with favorable U.S. State Department policies during Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.[10][11] The approach relied on publicly available records, including foundation disclosures and federal approvals, to highlight correlations without claiming direct causation or "smoking gun" evidence of quid pro quo arrangements, as Schweizer acknowledged in contemporaneous interviews.[5] This methodology prompted subsequent reporting by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, which verified key details and led to federal inquiries into Clinton Foundation activities.[10] Post-publication, HarperCollins issued corrections to seven or eight passages identified as inaccurate through fact-checking by media outlets.[12]