Yes, Bill Clinton ASKED Russia to interfere in a US presidential election

[Joe Cooper]

Press outlets are now reminding us that President Bill Clinton interfered
in the 1996 Russia election that brought Boris Yeltsin to power for a
second term.

This is by way of saying, “Well, if Putin helped Trump win the 2017
election, so what? The US did the same thing in Russia.”

That’s an interesting but not terribly strong argument. However, there is
another piece to the 1996 Clinton op, and it is explosive and quite
relevant.

Let’s start here, with the 1996 leak of a document detailing a meeting
between Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin. Sean Guillory, writing at
jacobinmag.com, states:

“According to a White House memo leaked to the Washington Times in March
1996, Clinton and Yeltsin had agreed to support each other in their
respective reelection bids.”

We are talking about mutual interference. President Clinton helps
President Yeltsin win, and President Yeltsin helps President Clinton win.

Bill Clinton asked the president of Russia to interfere in a US
presidential election.

Digest that.

The Washington Post (2/26/96) reports on “…a memo written by Deputy
Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, according to White House press
secretary Michael McCurry. It [the memo] recounted talks between Clinton
and Yeltsin earlier this month when both leaders attended an anti-
terrorism summit in Egypt.”

“The memo, as quoted in the [Washington] Times, said Clinton pledged to
work with Yeltsin to maintain ‘positive’ relations with the United States
as both men seek reelection this year. One way to do this, the memo
quoted Clinton as saying, is for Yeltsin to stop restricting poultry
imports. Clinton said ‘this is a big issue, especially since 40 percent
of U.S. poultry is produced in Arkansas,’ the memo said.”

We had a US president, Bill Clinton, specifying HOW the Russian president
could help him win a second term as US president.

Let that sink in.

The Associated Press reports, on March 28, 1996: “Citing a classified
memo, the Washington Times reported yesterday that Clinton had promised
Yeltsin to back his re-election bid by formulating “positive” policies
toward Russia…On a matter important to his political supporters in
Arkansas, Clinton asked Yeltsin to stop restricting poultry imports.
‘This is a big issue, especially since 40 percent of U.S. poultry is
produced in Arkansas,’ Clinton said, according to the memo…On Monday,
Vice President Al Gore announced Russia was lifting the ban, which was
imposed because of the suspicion that U.S. chickens are not inspected
sufficiently for salmonella, which causes illness.”

Clinton promises to back Yeltsin in his effort to win the presidency of
Russia.

In return, BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT TO CLINTON’S POLITICAL SUPPORTERS,
Clinton asks Yeltsin to lift Russia’s ban on importing chickens,
particularly since 40% of US poultry is produced in Arkansas, Clinton’s
home state. And lo and behold, Yeltsin does comply with Clinton’s request
for help in winning the 1996 US presidential election. Yeltsin lifts the
ban on importing US poultry.

Both president agree to interfere in each other’s election.

And it gets worse. The major chicken producer in Arkansas is Tyson. The
Fiscal Times reports, on 2/2/16: “…consider a largely forgotten financial
scandal that directly involved Hillary Clinton during 1978 and 1979.”

“Under the guidance of an attorney representing Tyson Foods, Hillary
Clinton made a $98,540 profit from a $1,000 initial investment in less
than one year trading commodity futures. While $98,540 may not seem like
much money relative to the Clinton family’s wealth today, it exceeded
Bill and Hillary’s combined annual income at the time.”

“…Clinton’s initial trading also had a serious irregularity…her $1,000
initial investment was well below the $12,000 deposit required by the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange for the first trades she executed. So not
only did Hillary make an extraordinary profit for a novice investor, she
did so without following the rules applied to less well-connected
traders.”

There is much more to say about the relationship between Tyson Chicken
and the Clintons, but we’ll leave it there for now.

So there is a precedent of Russia interfering in a US presidential
election (by stark invitation)—and nothing happened to the US president,
Bill Clinton, who asked for the interference. Nothing.

Clinton was, of course, upset when the memo of his meeting with Yeltsin
was leaked. But here is how he spun his objection:

Washington Post, 2/28/96: “[Clinton Press Secretary] McCurry said Clinton
and [National Security Advisor] Lake considered the leak to be far more
sensitive than the typical anonymous disclosure that is commonplace in
Washington journalism. ‘The president feels like he ought to be able to
sit down with the president of Russia and have a private conversation,’
McCurry said.”

Clinton and Yeltsin agreeing to interfere in each other’s presidential
election was ignored, as if it were of no concern. The big issue was the
leak of the memo. Private and highly felonious deals between two
superpower chiefs of state? No problem.

To repeat: this 1996 memo-scandal of enormous proportions didn’t make a
dent in Bill Clinton’s second term in office. After a brief press blast,
and a round of “I’m shocked” within the Beltway, the roar died and
vanished.

If a comparable memo were unearthed from the Trump team today,
impeachment proceedings will begin in a matter of hours, and the press
would be booking seats for the firing squad.

Soros-paid street soldiers would lift Barack Obamas up on their
shoulders, break down barriers at the White House, and carry him into the
Oval Office.

We need to revisit the old saying, “It’s not the conspiracy (that hurts a
political criminal), it’s the cover-up (of the crime).”

There needs to be an addendum. “It’s not the conspiracy, it’s the
coverage.” Meaning press coverage.

If a politician commits a major crime and the press coverage dies out,
the politician gets away with it. If the press keeps hounding the
politician endlessly, he doesn’t get away with it—even if there is no
solid proof he committed a crime in the first place.

Source: http://bit.ly/2gZGohd

[Mr. B1ack]

Um ... Clintons - so it doesn't count :-)

[Joe Cooper]

Post by Mr. B1ack
Um ... Clintons - so it doesn't count :-)

Indeed...although the Senate Judiciary Committee IS investigating Hillary's
open collusion with the Ukrainian government to influence the election, and
Trump is whacking Sessions over the head for not being aggressive re
investigating Hillary's serial violations of the Espionage Act.

One hopes.