'Disciplining the Clinton 'Charities' Might Open the Drain Under the Swamp'

© AP Photo / Carolyn KasterDemocratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, listens as she testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, before the House Select Committee on Benghazi
Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, listens as she testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, before the House Select Committee on Benghazi - Sputnik International
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The Clinton Foundation has found itself under the microscope due to a reinvigorated probe into the Obama-era uranium deal. Speaking to Sputnik, Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel said that it's only the beginning and shed light on the potential ramifications of an all-out inquiry into the Clintons' endeavors.

Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel, who has been investigating the Clinton Foundation's (CF) alleged fraud over the past few years, believes that disciplining Bill and Hillary's charities "might open the drain, under the swamp."

The congressional investigation into the 2010 Uranium One deal approved by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may become the trigger for a series of scrupulous inquiries into the Clintons' charity, which the investigative journalist dubbed "the largest unprosecuted fraud ever," and their other endeavors.

The Clinton Foundation May Have Already Been Investigated

According to Ortel, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division has already been quietly reviewing the tax status of the Clinton Foundation since 2016.

"In addition, the FBI and foreign governments, as well as the US states may also be investigating the CF and its many affiliates," the analyst surmised.

Speaking to Sputnik in June, Ortel noted that he was "already in contact with certain governments concerning the apparent legal status of the Clinton Foundation and the nature and amount of sums solicited and received by Clinton interests, supposedly for charitable pursuits."

"I hope the investigations will be exhaustive and include flagging of foundations and others who illegally claimed tax deductions for making 'contributions' to these false-front charities that I believe were organized and operated illegally starting on October 23, 1997, right to the present under theoretical scrutiny of the IRS, US state and foreign governments," the Wall Street analyst, well known for his exposure of the General Electric fraud in 2007, said.

Political Earthquake? All-Out Investigation Into the Clintons May Affect Many

According to the investigative journalist, an all-out investigation into the Clintons would "certainly affect the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice (DoJ), the IRS, and US state attorneys general, who are ignoring responsibilities to follow and enforce applicable laws, to further partisan aims."

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"In these vast bureaucracies, I suspect there are many 'career' officials as well as political appointees who have been playing politics," he remarked, adding that "some of these officials may have family members who might have profited, as it seems the Clintons did, from their political connections."

In his previous interviews with Sputnik, the Wall Street analyst placed emphasis on the suspicious "blindness" of Rod Rosenstein, James Comey and Robert Mueller who had failed to catch the Clinton Foundation red-handed over the past decade and a half, though the three held top positions either in the FBI or in the DoJ at that time.

In this context, the fact that former FBI Director James Comey wrote a draft statement regarding the exoneration of Hillary Clinton during the agency's investigation into the former secretary of state's use of a private email server, months before interviewing her, appears to be hardly surprising, according to the analyst.

It seems that US President Donald Trump was right when he tweeted in May 2017: "FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton."

​To tackle the controversial issue the chairmen of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy, kicked off a joint inquiry into how the FBI handled Clinton's email case on Tuesday.

​"Decisions made by the Department of Justice in 2016 have led to a host of outstanding questions that must be answered," the joint statement said, as quoted by The Hill.

By Attacking 'Clinton Charity Fraud' Trump Can Reshuffle the System

How may a wide-scale probe into the Clintons' supposed misdeeds impact the balance of power in Washington, and what will be the potential consequences of the inquiry?

"The 'balance of power' in the US used to refer to the balance between Republicans and Democrats. Now in 2017, political parties are increasingly less relevant," Ortel responded.

The Wall Street analyst suggested that "attacking the Clinton 'charity' frauds could offer the Trump administration a chance to bring regulation of the vast pool of charity assets into compliance with applicable laws — this pool is approximately $5 trillion in size."

"My first pass suggests that a re-invigorated IRS and DoJ that policed the largest charities first might find it fair and reasonable to exact penalties of $100 billion or more against flagrant violators of existing laws. Such an amount would help score the proposed tax cut package as a clear win, even though some revenue losses may occur in early years because of reduced tax rates," Ortel assumed.

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He believes that this approach "would certainly alter the flagrant ways in which 'charities' and their assets are used by elements across the political spectrum to finance and advance partisan political aims, and even to enrich donors, trustees, and executives."

The Wall Street analyst recalled that since 1989 Americans have been told that elites in government, business, academia and media "know best," and in particular that American prosperity will flourish in a "globalist" world.

However, the US government statistics and international statistics do not defend this outlook, quite the contrary, he noted.

"Elites certainly are better off, but the mass of workers are not finding rising incomes, while they are experiencing rising living expenses and have little to no financial capital saved up," Ortel told Sputnik. "Meanwhile, government spending has soared to absurdly high levels."

In light of this, Donald Trump's vow to "drain the swamp" sounds especially relevant, according to the analyst.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.

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