Corruption and Cover-up
Massive corruption of the Obama administration exposed
By Mark Luedtke
Dayton’s Conspiracy Theorist
After President Bush started the Iraq war, it seemed like we heard about the corruption of Vice-President Cheney, Halliburton, and no-bid contracts every day until President Obama took office. In case you don’t remember, here’s a taste from The Guardian in 2004:
“Halliburton, the oil services company formerly run by the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, was yesterday embroiled in new accusations of corruption after it sacked two workers over allegations that they took kickbacks for awarding sub-contracts in Iraq. The company disclosed that investigations were going on into whether two of its staff took up to $6m (£3.3m) from a Kuwaiti-based company providing support for US troops,” it reported. “The revelation is likely to intensify the scrutiny of Halliburton, which has reaped huge contracts to rebuild Iraq and provide logistical support for the army. The total value of their contracts is more than $9bn, by far the largest sum handed out to a US firm in Iraq.”
Bush waived bidding for the contracts so Cheney’s cronies could overcharge and pocket billions, much of which undoubtedly got back to Bush and Cheney. There was nothing unusual about this. Every administration does it. It was business-as-usual for rulers. It’s the primary reason why people crave the presidency. The only thing unusual about it was how the press hammered this issue.
Then a funny thing happened when Obama took office: the press went silent on that same business-as-usual corruption. To this day Obama claims to have had a corruption-free administration. And he says it with a straight face. Still, the press fails to report on the massive corruption inside the Obama administration.
Fortunately Peter Schweizer exposes some of it in his new book, “Secret Empires: How Our Politicians Hide Corruption and Enrich Their Families and Friends.”
Investor’s Business Daily reports on several corrupt activities in its review. In the first case, several Obama cronies formed an investment company named Vistria around the time Obama was reelected in 2012. Then, in a well-orchestrated maneuver, Obama used his bully pulpit to attack specific industries and companies, driving down their share value. Vistria then swooped in and purchased the companies for a fraction of their previous price.
For example, “In 2013, Obama blamed [private colleges] for taking advantage of students by saddling them with massive amounts of student debt, ruining their credit and making a profit on it. He ordered the Federal Trade Commission to go after them,” IBD notes. “In the case of the University of Phoenix, its parent Apollo Education Group was suspended after a Federal Trade Commission investigation in 2015. The following year, three companies, including Vistria, swooped in to buy what remained of Apollo at a price 90% below its share price before the investigation.”
Another example describes how Vice-President Biden’s son and Secretary of State Kerry’s stepson formed a company to profit from Obama’s foreign policy regarding China. “In December of 2013, for instance, Biden traveled to China for talks. He brought Hunter Biden along. While there, the senior Biden soft-pedaled China's clear aggression, and played up the bilateral trade partnership,” IBD documents. “Ten days after the trip concluded, China's central bank, the Bank of China, set up a $1 billion investment joint venture called Bohai Harvest RST. For the record, the ‘RS’ referred to Biden's son's firm, Rosemont Seneca.”
Furthermore, Chinese firms associated with the government purchased stakes in several companies owned by the two sons.
Again, there’s nothing unusual about this. This is business as usual for rulers. It’s why coercive governments exist. The only unusual aspect is how thoroughly the press covered up this massive, ubiquitous corruption.
Of course this is just one aspect of Obama’s corruption. Obama’s green energy push was another tool of corruption. In one example, after Solyndra executives donated heavily to Obama’s 2008 campaign, Obama rewarded those cronies with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. A few years later, Solyndra went bankrupt, saddling taxpayers with half a billion in debt while Obama’s cronies walked away scot-free, unlike Enron executives.
Then there was Obama’s scheme to supply guns to Mexican drug dealers and track them, called fast and furious, one of which was used to kill a US border patrol agent.
These scandals were swept under the rug by the media.
Obama’s IRS systematically targeted conservative organizations and stonewalled congressional investigators for years with no consequences.
Obama invited the massive Clinton corruption machine into his administration when he named Hillary Secretary of State. She traded favorable policy for Clinton Foundation donations. It’s well documented, but nothing has come of that.
Then Obama used the FBI to spy on and undermine Trump, and nothing has come of that either.
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