The progressive message continues to be “hand us more power.” What they are asking us to do is ignore history—including their history—in how such power is actually exercised. We must ask ourselves: Why trust someone with more power when you cannot even trust them with the little they already have?
Acknowledgments
This book, like many of the others I have written over the course of the past couple of decades, proved to be research intensive. I am blessed to have a great team of researchers who scour the planet for documents, financial records, and corporate materials. And a team of fact-checkers to make sure that our sources are top-notch and being accurately reported. In particular, I want to thank Steve Stewart, Tarik Noriega, Christina Armes, Joe Duffus, Jedd McFatter, Seamus Bruner, Caleb Stephens, Hannah Cooperman, and Brian Baugus for all their hard work. I also wish to thank all those members of the research team who wish to remain anonymous.
Special thanks are also due to Vermont attorney Brady Toensing, who shared his research on Bernie Sanders, and to Dave Bossie, of Citizens United, who shared emails he obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
I am also grateful for the leadership team that works with me at the Government Accountability Institute. Our board of directors, including chairman Rebekah Mercer and member Ron Robinson, provides courageous and wise leadership as we navigate the treacherous waters of investigating and exposing corruption involving powerful people. We are also blessed to have senior leadership staff, including Stuart Christmas, Eric Eggers, Steve Post, and Sandy Schulz. Thanks also to Sally Jo Roorda, my longtime assistant, for keeping me organized.
My agents Glen Hartley and Lynn Chu of Writers Reps always steer me right, and I am grateful for their diligence on my behalf. This is my second book with Eric Nelson as my editor. He has a wonderful combination of both patience and commitment to excellence that makes him a delight to work with. Thanks also go to Hannah Long for her assistance. And Tina Andreadis of the Harper publicity team is quite simply the best in the business.
Finally, thanks and gratitude go to my family. This book is dedicated to my mother, Kerstin Schweizer, who since my earliest days encouraged me in my endeavors. My wife, Rhonda, has been loving and encouraging throughout this busy and difficult time. Joe, Maria, Dan, Adam, Raquel, and Ava—thanks for joining me on this wild ride. It’s my hope that by fighting corruption we can make the world a better place for everyone, especially for my children, Jack and Hannah.
The author alone is responsible for the contents of this book.
Notes
Chapter 1: The Crannied Wall
1. “Top Arkansas Lawyer Helped Hillary Clinton Turn Big Profit,” New York Times, March 18, 1994, https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/18/us/top-arkansas-lawyer-helped-hillary-clinton-turn-big-profit.html?pagewanted=all.
2. “Whitewater: Time Line,” Washington Post, 1998, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/timeline.htm.
3. Eric Lichtblau and Davan Maharaj, “Clinton Pardon of Rich a Saga of Power, Money,” Chicago Tribune, February 18, 2001, https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-clinton-pardons-analysis-story.html.
4. “Governance Memorandum,” email from [email protected] to [email protected] and [email protected], Wikileaks, December 3, 2011, https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/7769 (see attachment 12727757_4.pdf).
5. Anna Massoglia, “Clinton Foundation’s Revenue Hit 15-year Low After 2016 Presidential Election,” Opensecrets.org, December 13, 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/12/clinton-foundation-revenue-low/.
6. Michael S. Schmidt and Amy Chozick, “Using Private Email, Hillary Clinton Thwarted Record Requests,” New York Times, March 3, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/politics/using-private-email-hillary-clinton-thwarted-record-requests.html.
7. Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men (New York: Harcourt, 1946), pp. 234–35.
8. Ibid.
9. Jim Bettinger, “The Anger Journalists Never Fully Understood,” Nieman Reports, Winter 2003, https://niemanreports.org/articles/the-anger-journalists-never-fully-understood/.
10. Andra Brichacek, “Six Ways the Media Influence Elections,” University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, n.d., https://journalism.uoregon.edu/news/six-ways-media-influences-elections.
11. Thomas E. Patterson, “News Coverage of Donald Trump’s First 100 Days,” Shorenstein Center, May 18, 2017, https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-donald-trumps -first-100-days/.
12. “6 Political Scandals the Press Doesn’t Want You to Know About,” Investor’s Business Daily, October 17, 2018, https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/scandals-democrats-media-bias/.
13. Ken Doctor, “ ‘Profitable’ Washington Post adding more than five dozen journalists,” Politico, December 27, 2016, https://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/12/the-profitable-washington-post-adding-more-than-five-dozen-journalists-004900; Paul Bedard, “Washington Post assigns army of 20 to dig into ‘every phase’ of Trump’s life,” Washington Examiner, May 11, 2016, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-post-assigns-army-of-20-to-dig-into-every-phase-of-trumps-life.
14. “How Times Journalists Uncovered the Original Source of the President’s Wealth,” New York Times, October 2, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/insider/donald-trump-fred-tax-schemes-wealth.html.
Chapter 2: Kamala Harris
1. Bonnie Eslinger, Aaron Kinney, and Mike Rosenberg, “President Barack Obama, in Ritzy Atherton, Raises Money, Compliments Kamala Harris,” Mercury News, April 4, 2013, https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/04/04/president-barack-obama-in-ritzy-atherton-raises-money-compliments-kamala-harris/.
2. Sharon Driscoll, “Tony and Maya: Partners in Public Service,” Stanford Lawyer 82 (May 17, 2010), https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-lawyer/articles/tony-and-maya-partners-in-public-service/; Carla Marinucci, “In Obama afterglow, D.A. Harris set to run for attorney general,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 2008; Philip Matier and Andrew Ross, “State stars may shine with Obama,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 6, 2008; Carla Marinucci, “D.A. Harris Plans Run for Attorney General,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 2008, https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/D-A-Harris-plans-run-for-attorney-general-3262181.php.
3. Michael Martinez, “A ‘Female Obama’ Seeks California Attorney General Post,” CNN, October 22, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/22/california.kamala.harris.profile/index.html.
4. Matthew Artz, “Kamala Harris Taking Quiet Path to California’s US Senate Seat,” Los Angeles Daily News, October 22, 2016.
5. Mark Pulliam, “The Next Obama,” City Journal, Winter 2016, https://www.city-journal.org/html/next-obama-14181.html; Shaila Dewan, “For California, Attorney General Insisted on Better Terms in Foreclosure Deal,” New York Times, February 13, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/business/how-kamala-harris-finessed-a-foreclosure-deal-for-california.html.
6. Molly Hensley-Clancy, “The Complicated Politics of Kamala Harris’s First Book,” Buzzfeed News, August 20, 2018, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/kamala-harris-smart-on-crime-book.
7. Scott Duke Harris, “In Search of Elusive Justice,” Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2004; Artz, “Kamala Harris Taking Quiet Path to California’s US Senate Seat”; George Joseph, “Community pins hopes next on Kamala Harris,” India Abroad, November 28, 2003.
8. Aziz Haniffa, “Kamala Devi Harris,” India Abroad, August 14, 2009.
9. Abby Aguirre, “Kamala Harris Is Dreaming Big,” Vogue, April 2018, https://www.vogue.com/article/kamala-harris-interview-vogue-april-2018.
10. Joseph, “Community pins hopes next on Kamala Harris.”
11. Ibid.; “UC Hastings Congratulates Kamala Harris ’89: California’s Next U.S. Senator,” UC Hastings College of the Law San Francisco, November 9, 2016, https://www.uchastings.edu/2016/11/09/uc-hastings-congratulates-kamala-harris-89-californias-next-u-s-senator.
12. Harris, “In Search
of Elusive Justice.”
13. George Joseph, “It’s time for new leadership: Harris,” India Abroad, December 19, 2003.
14. George Joseph, “Six to the fore,” India Abroad, October 31, 2003; Dan Morain and Paul Jacobs, “Worlds of Politics, Law Often Mix for Speaker: Capitol: Willie Brown’s Legal and Speaking Fees from Corporations Far Outstrip His Public Salary. He Denies Any Conflict of Interest. The FBI Probes Some Dealings,” Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1991, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991–04–01-mn-1225-story.html; In the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Fourth Appellate District, 4th Civil No. D011997, 10, https://books.google.com/books?id=Lt18d2g43BMC&pg=PP25&lpg=PP25&dq=%22willie+brown%22++%22state+bar+investigation%22&source=bl&ots=XT9V2E1QqB&sig=ACfU3U3XzQARRwx7ihehPQkJyFdX-WulGQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-lMSS4vDiAhVBMqwKHTHACT0Q6AEwB3oECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22willie%20brown%22%20%20%22state%20bar%20investigation%22&f=false, p. 10; “Investigators Say Lawmakers Broke No Law on Trip,” Los Angeles Times, November 7, 1991, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991–11–07-mn-1448-story.html; James Richardson, Willie Brown: A Biography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), p. 353.
15. Richard C. Paddock, “Special Interests a large source of Brown’s income,” Los Angeles Times, March 13, 1987, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987–03–13-mn-5616-story.html.
16. Weston Kosova, “The Real Slick Willie,” Newsweek, December 3, 1995, https://www.newsweek.com/real-slick-willie-180166.
17. Lois Romano, “Tonight the Town Is Willie Brown’s,” Washington Post, July 16, 1984, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/07/16/tonight-the-town-is-willie-browns/0484f4c3-aea5–43dd-b788-f454141308bf/.
18. Elizabeth Lesly Stevens, “The Power Broker,” Washington Monthly, July/August 2012, https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/julyaugust-2012/the-power-broker/.
19. Peter Castro, “No Mere Mayor,” People, June 24, 1996, https://people.com/archive/no-mere-mayor-vol-45-no-25/; Joseph, “Six to the fore.”
20. Peter Byrne, “Kamala’s Karma,” San Francisco Weekly, September 24, 2003, http://www.sfweekly.com/news/kamalas-karma/.
21. Ibid.; William Carlsen, “Lawmakers put cronies in plum jobs / Big pay, few hours on 3 state panels,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 10, 2002, https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Lawmakers-put-cronies-in-plum-jobs-Big-pay-few-2864693.php.
22. Ann E. Marimow, “Davis’ friends land on their feet; board salaries getting scrutiny,” San Jose Mercury News, November 2, 2003; Carlsen, “Lawmakers put cronies in plum jobs”; Patrick Hoge, “D.A. Race: Hallinan, Harris, make runoff—Fazio loses for third time to S.F. incumbent,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 5, 2003; David Siders, “ ‘Ruthless’: How Kamala Harris Won Her First Race,” Politico, January 24, 2019, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/24/kamala-harris-2020-history-224126.
23. Byrne, “Kamala’s Karma.”
24. Alana Goodman, “Kamala Harris Launched Political Career with $120K ‘Patronage’ Job from Boyfriend Willie Brown,” Washington Examiner, June 1, 2019, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/kamala-harris-launched-political-career-with-120k-patronage-job-from-boyfriend-willie-brown.
25. Richardson, Willie Brown, pp. 389–90, 405.
26. Ibid., p. 390.
27. Ibid., p. 404.
28. “Hollywood’s Epidemic of Mid-Life,” Ebony, September 2001.
29. Lance Williams and Chuck Finnie, “Willie Brown, Inc.: How SF’s mayor built a city based on ‘juice’ in politics,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2001.
30. “Kamala Harris Biography,” Biography.com, n.d., https://www.biography.com/political-figure/kamala-harris.
31. Siders, “ ‘Ruthless’: How Kamala Harris Won Her First Race.”
32. Patrick Hoge, “Harris Playing Catch-up in 3-Way Race to Be D.A. / Spending Violation, Low Name Recognition Dog Ex-Hallinan Ally,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 9, 2003, https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Harris-playing-catch-up-in-3-way-race-to-be-D-A-2583420.php.
33. Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, “Wine, Dungeness Crab, Rice-a-Roni on Line in Bicoastal Bets,” SF Gate, October 4, 2000.
34. Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, “Feinstein 1, Mayors Brown 0 on Southern Crossing Proposal,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 21, 2000; Lance Williams, “D.A. dismisses ethics charges; Judge had earlier ruled in favor of ex-planning commissioner,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 3, 2004; Lance Williams and Chuck Finnie, “Lawyer says S.F. official tried to force hiring of consultant,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 18, 2002 (all Nexis).
35. Rachel Gordon, “The Mayor’s Legacy: Willie Brown / ‘Da Mayor’ Soared During Tenure That Rivals City’s Most Notable, but Some Critical Goals Not Met,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 4, 2004, https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/THE-MAYOR-S-LEGACY-WILLIE-BROWN-Da-Mayor-2832960.php; Siders, “ ‘Ruthless’: How Kamala Harris Won Her First Race”; Brittany Martin, “Kamala Harris Dated Willie Brown Decades Ago and Her Critics Claim It Matters,” Los Angeles Magazine, January 29, 2019, https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/willie-brown-kamala-harris/.
36. Harris, “In Search of Elusive Justice.”
37. Ibid.; “Rebecca Prozan,” LinkedIn profile, accessed July 2, 2019, https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaprozan/; Ken Ludden, A San Francisco Journalist (Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press, 2011), p. 100.
38. Byrne, “Kamala’s Karma.”
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Kevin West, “In her court: Being San Francisco D.A. has put Kamala Harris in the public eye,” W Magazine, November 1, 2004.
43. Demian Bulwa, “Harris denies being indebted to donors; Political machine made challenger, D.A. Hallinan says,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 25, 2003.
44. Patrick Hoge, “D.A. Files campaign complaint; Hallinan says opponent broke spending law,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 1, 2003; Hoge, “Harris Playing Catch-up in 3-Way Race to Be D.A. / Spending Violation, Low Name Recognition Dog Ex-Hallinan Ally”; Demian Bulwa and John Wildermuth, “No-holds-barred debate in D.A. race,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 2003.
45. Bulwa and Wildermuth, “No-holds-barred debate in D.A. race.”
46. Rachel Gordon, “D.A. candidate to pay up to $34,000 for ‘unintentional’ mistake,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 7, 2003; Patrick Hoge, “Upstart in D.A. race: Harris poses threat to Hallinan,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 6, 2003.
47. Bulwa and Wildermuth, “No-holds-barred debate in D.A. race.”
48. John Roemer, “Harris Takes Money from Hotel Owners,” Daily Journal, November 11, 2003.
49. George Joseph, “Kamala Harris picks up more support,” India Abroad, December 5, 2003.
50. Ilene Lelchuk, “Campaign probe names S.F. official; Workers testify he told them to help Newsom,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 22, 2004.
51. Lance Williams and Chuck Finnie, “Mayor’s patronage army; Brown fattens payroll with loyalists, colleagues, friends,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 30, 2001.
52. Anastasia Hendrix, “City Workers: We Were Told to Vote, Work for Newsom / S.F. City Attorney Probes Campaign Charge by 9 Street Cleaners,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 15, 2004, https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/City-workers-We-were-told-to-vote-work-for-2812182.php.
53. Lelchuk, “Campaign probe names S.F. official; Workers testify he told them to help Newsom.”
54. Larry Bush, “Lee vs. Nuru: Not Happening!” CitiReport, March 25, 2012, http://www.citireport.com/2012/03/lee-vs-nuru-not-happening/.
55. Patrick Hoge, “D.A. Race: Hallinan, Harris Make Runoff—Fazio Loses for Third Time to S.F. Incumbent,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 5, 2003, https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/D-A-race-Hallinan-Harris-make-runoff-Fazio-2579061.php.
56. Leah Garchik, “Daily Datebook,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 8, 2004; George Joseph, “Kamala Harris sworn in, vows to get smart on crime,” India Abroad, Janua
ry 16 2004.
57. Anastasia Hendrix, “Mayor says he wants full probe of allegations by city workers,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 16, 2004; Bush, “Lee vs. Nuru: Not Happening!”; Hendrix, “City Workers: We Were Told to Vote, Work for Newsom.”
58. Alanna Vaglanos, “Kamala Harris on Alex Acosta: We Don’t Need Leaders Who Protect Predators,” Huffington Post, July 9, 2019, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-alex-acosta-jeffrey-epstein-plea-deal_n_5d24b415e4b0583e4827eede; Shira Tarlo, “Kamala Harris Criticized Law Firm Behind Epstein’s Plea Deal—Then Accepted Money From It: Report,” Salon, July 16, 2019, https://www.salon.com/2019/07/16/kamala-harris-criticized-law-firm-behind-epsteins-plea-deal-then-accepted-money-from-it-report/.
59. Jaxon Van Derbeken, “Accused Abusers Freed in Bay Area / 16, Including Ex-Priests, Released After Court Ruling,” SF Gate, June 28, 2003, https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Accused-abusers-freed-in-Bay-Area-16-including-2577085.php; “Archdiocese Sues Former Monsignor,” Associated Press, September 16, 1999, https://www.apnews.com/101dbb097fe09eca4f249a300891edb8.
60. Mark Clayton, “What Vatican Sex Abuse Summit May Achieve,” Christian Science Monitor, April 22, 2002.
61. Matt Smith, “A Secrecy Fetish,” San Francisco Chronicle (archive), June 2, 2010, https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/a-secrecy-fetish/Content?oid=2177326; Elizabeth Fernandez, “Victims’ Group Irate over Prosecutors’ Deal with Catholic Church,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 2002, https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Victims-groups-irate-over-prosecutors-deal-with-2799997.php; Ron Russell, “Zipped Up,” San Francisco Chronicle (archive), January 19, 2005, https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/zipped-up/Content?oid=2154654; Ron Russell, “See No Evil,” San Francisco Chronicle (archive), May 21, 2003, https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/see-no-evil/Content?oid=2148092.
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