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Fact Check: Widely-criticized Politico story botches the facts

In an egregious example of journalistic malpractice, this morning Politico published a misleading story by Ken Vogel alleging that aides to former President Bill Clinton used taxpayer funds to subsidize the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

Yet within hours of publication, the article came under withering criticism from leading political reporters. TPM’s Josh Marshall called the report “tendentious verging on dishonest.” Veteran Washington journalist Jonathan Allen said “I’m still trying to figure out what’s shady/murky/troublesome about WJC aides being paid out of multiple pots for multiple functions.”  The Boston Globe’s Michael Cohen tweeted that “the only blurring of lines here is being done by Politico.”

Politico has already been forced to change their headline. Yet major errors remain uncorrected in the article.

Here are the facts: the Politico story falsely insinuated that taxpayer funding was used to “support [Clinton’s] wife’s private email server” and subsidize his foundation. This is incorrect. Taxpayer funds were never used for an email server for either of the Clintons. When General Services Administration funding  (which is allocated to every former president) was used, it was to pay for a database and server equipment for President Clinton’s correspondence and to compensate Clinton Foundation staff when they are specifically assisting Clinton in his capacity as a former president. As the GSA itself has noted, this is a common practice for all ex-presidents and their staffs.

Politico Was Forced To Correct Their Headline After Corrections From Clinton Campaign

 

  • Washington Post: “Politico tweaks headline of email-server article after blast from Clinton campaign.”
  • Politico’s original headline: “Bill Clinton used tax dollars to subsidize foundation, private email server.” “‘Bill Clinton used tax dollars to subsidize foundation, private email server,’ read the article’s debut headline.”
  • Politico amended headline: “Bill Clinton aides used tax dollars to subsidize foundation, private email support.”
  • Politico amended headline to reflect GSA funds were not used to purchase email server. “Note: The headline on this story has been revised to reflect that GSA funds were used for IT support.”

Politico Story Falsely Insinuated That Taxpayer Funding Was Used To “Support His Wife’s Private Email Server”

Politico story falsely insinuates that taxpayer funding was used to “support his wife’s private email server.” 

Bill Clinton’s staff used a decades-old federal government program, originally created to keep former presidents out of the poorhouse, to subsidize his family’s foundation and an associated business, and to support his wife’s private email server, a POLITICO investigation has found.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon: Politico’s assertion that Bill Clinton used tax dollars to subsidize a private email server was “egregiously false.”

Angel Urena, press secretary for Bill Clinton: “No GSA funding was ever used for a private e-mail server. And the @ClintonFdn never housed a GSA-funded e-mail server, private or otherwise.”

In 2015 article by Ken Vogel, a Clinton spokesman made clear that no taxpayer money was used to purchase or maintain the email server used by Hillary Clinton. 

A Clinton spokesman also emphasized that no taxpayer money was used to purchase or maintain a private email server operated for the former president’s staff starting in 2007, which Hillary Clinton started using in 2009. Her use of the server to send emails as secretary of state has become the center of a swirling controversy about whether she skirted public records laws or State Department rules or compromised the security of top-secret national security information. The server was funded entirely out of Bill Clinton’s pocket, according to his office.

Brian Fallon: “Staffer wasn’t on GSA payroll until two years after he helped set up Clinton email acct.” 

Staffer who helped set up personal email account, Justin Cooper, was also paid out of Clintons personal funds in his capacity as an aide to the Clintons.

Politico addressed the issue by adjusting the headline of Vogel’s article: ‘Bill Clinton aides used tax dollars to subsidize foundation, private email support.’ The change finds an explanation at the foot of the article: ‘Note: The headline on this story has been revised to reflect that GSA funds were used for IT support.’ As for the article itself, a Politico spokesman said it is ‘one hundred percent accurate and remains unchanged.’ The headline change doesn’t exactly have the Clinton folks celebrating: ‘That is a stretch, too, given Cooper was also paid out of personal funds, and it does not put the genie back in the bottle in terms of other outlets that are now citing Politico to say taxpayers footed the bill for the purchase of the personal email server,’ writes Fallon to the Erik Wemple Blog.

  • Not until February 2011, did staff for President Clinton request GSA paperwork to allow Justin Cooper to receive GSA payroll. 
    We have two employees that need the GSA packages. Can you send them to me ASAP. The names are Justin Cooper and Oscar Flores. Joe is aware of this change.”
    Helen Robinson email to Alicia Boston-Grimes, 2/22/11

Database System And Server Equipment Purchased By GSA Was For President Clinton’s Correspondence, Was In No Way Email Related

GSA paid to purchase and maintain Intranet Quorom (IQ), a database system to maintain all of Bill Clinton’s correspondence and used by staff at both the president’s personal office and the Clinton Foundation. 

In at least one instance, GSA paid to purchase and maintain a specialty Lockheed Martin database system called Intranet Quorom, the supporting systems for which were housed at one time at the Clinton Foundation’s offices, and used by both foundation staff and Bill Clinton’s personal office staff to store and process his correspondence.

Equipment purchased by GSA to support Intranet Quorom system were simply data storage servers, had nothing to do with email, and were the only pieces of GSA-purchased equipment housed at one point at Clinton Foundation. 

The Clinton aide said servers supporting the Intranet Quorom system — which is used for data storage, not email — were the only pieces of equipment purchased by GSA that were housed at the Clinton Foundation at one point, but he said it was justified by the specific circumstances around it.

Clinton aide: “As staff needs to have the full picture of all correspondence sent by President Clinton, both staff from the Office of the Former President and the Foundation have access to, and can input into, the Intranet Quorum database.” 

As staff needs to have the full picture of all correspondence sent by President Clinton, both staff from the Office of the Former President and the Foundation have access to, and can input into, the Intranet Quorum database,” the aide said.

Clinton aide: “Staff at the Foundation and staff at the Office of the Former President may have similar tasks, and need to coordinate this work — specifically staff that handles President Clinton’s correspondence.” 

The Clinton Foundation’s website suggests that there’s a strict wall between the foundation and the ex-president’s personal office. ‘All Foundation employees are paid for work through the Foundation payroll,’ the website says. ‘No Foundation staff are paid for Foundation work with taxpayer dollars.’ But the aide acknowledged ‘staff at the Foundation and staff at the Office of the Former President may have similar tasks, and need to coordinate this work — specifically staff that handles President Clinton’s correspondence.’ That shared work is facilitated by the Lockheed Martin IQ database system, the aide said.

2001 GSA report: “To varying degrees, foundations associated with each former president are involved with the office operations” including “supplying some furniture and equipment.” 

To varying degrees, foundations associated with each former president are involved with the office operations. While the foundations themselves do not pay any portion of the office rental cost, they do assist office operations by supplying some furniture and equipment. At former President Carter’s office, which is leased from the Carter Presidential Center—a nonprofit foundation—two staff members of the Center use office space paid for by GSA. Simultaneously, however, GSA does not pay for other Center space that is used exclusively by former President Carter or his staff.

Discrepancy about Purchase of Servers

Politico reported that GSA officials chose not to pay for a Dell server to support the IQ database because they could not be certain the server would not be used for the foundation.  

But the system’s dual purpose raised questions among GSA officials, who pressed Clinton’s representatives when they submitted an invoice in September 2011 to the GSA to purchase a $7,700 Dell server and other IT equipment to support the Lockheed Martin IQ database. Clinton Foundation officials explained to the GSA that they wanted the Dell server housed at foundation headquarters rather than at Clinton’s personal office. They explained in an email that the foundation office had better air conditioning, allowing it to support ‘about 10-15 more servers,’ and also it was where IT staff were based, so ‘trouble shooting with the servers can be done ASAP.’ The GSA staff asked Graham, then serving as the foundation’s COO, to demonstrate that ‘safeguards are in place to ensure that the servers are solely for use by’ Clinton’s personal office. A note affixed to the bottom of an email produced pursuant to POLITICO’s FOIA indicates that the GSA ultimately decided not to purchase the Dell server. Asked about the reasoning this week, a GSA spokesman suggested that Clinton’s representatives failed to provide sufficient evidence that the Dell server was not for use by the foundation.

Clinton aides contradicted GSA, arguing GSA purchased the Dell server that operates the IQ database in 2010.  

But, perhaps highlighting the confusion caused by the overlapping spheres in the Clinton’s universe, the Clinton aide offered a different recollection. ‘We believe that the information GSA provided you with is incomplete. Our files show that GSA purchased the Dell server that operates the IQ database in 2010.’

Nothing Wrong With Bill Clinton Aides Being Paid Out Of GSA Allocations And Other Sources

All ex-presidents are allocated $96,000 per year for staffing.  

A GSA spokesperson declined to comment on specific employees, but said ex-presidents have broad discretion over how they choose to divvy up the $96,600 they are provided each year for staffing. They can give the entire sum to a single employee or divide it among multiple employees.

In 2001, a represented for Bill Clinton informed GSA that “some staff compensation will be paid by the former president and his presidential foundation.” 

A representative for Clinton in 2001 told the Government Accountability Office that, in addition to the GSA money, ‘some staff compensation will be paid by the former president and his presidential foundation,’ according to a 2001 GAO report. It made clear that most employees on the GSA payrolls of former presidents ‘also receive compensation from other sources.’

2001 GSA report: Most staff members in the offices of ex-presidents “also receive compensation from other sources,” including foundations of former presidents or their spouses. 

The office staffs of former presidents’ ranged from 6 to 19 persons and included full-time and part-time paid members along with volunteers and interns. In addition to receiving federal compensation, most paid staff members also receive compensation from other sources. These sources include the former presidents and his or his spouses’ foundations.

Clinton aide: “There is no legal prohibition that would preclude the former president’s staff from receiving compensation from other sources or doing personal work for the former presidents.” 

Generally, the aide explained that Clinton ‘wears several hats — among them being former President of the United States and the founder of the Clinton Foundation. His staffing reflects those roles.’ The aide added ‘there is no legal prohibition that would preclude the former president’s staff from receiving compensation from other sources or doing personal work for the former presidents. We are unaware of any legal prohibition that would preclude these activities.’

Aides to President Clinton assisted him “in a variety of settings” and were compensated according to the capacity in which they were assisting, be it his role as a former president, founder of the Clinton Foundation, or otherwise. 

According to several people familiar with the former president’s operation, the rationale behind the interwoven payrolls is that they allow for a small team to assist Clinton in a variety of settings without having to do logistically complicated hockey-like line changes. In a given day, Clinton might deliver a paid private speech (during which time his employees’ salaries could be paid by the executive services corporation) and a public speech in his capacity as a former president (during which his staff could be paid by the GSA funds). And he could attend events for the foundation (where staff time would be paid by the foundation) as well as his wife’s presidential campaign (staff time would be paid by the campaign).

Media Criticism

Critical Reaction: Politico’s Story Was “Tendentious Verging on Dishonest”

Ken Vogel Already Wrote This Story… Twice

Politico headline, 2008: “Taxpayers fund Bill Clinton spending.” 

Politico headline, 2015: “Taxpayer tab for Clinton Inc.: $16 million.” “

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