During the December 1 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, commentator and author Christopher
Hitchens -- a frequent
critic of the Clintons --
again claimed that in 2000, Hillary Clinton "got" her husband "to change his plan to visit India
and to build in a visit to Pakistan on the way in return for" thousands of dollars she received
from a fundraiser held by a Pakistani-American PAC. Hitchens cited no source for his assertion,
and reporting at the time said there was "no evidence" to support such a claim. Hitchens made
similar claims on the March 29, 2000, edition of the show, as well as in the 2000 edition of his
book No One Left
to Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family and in a May 1, 2000, column in The
Nation. Hitchens made these accusations despite offering no support and despite reporting
undermining his claim.
During the December 1 edition of Hardball, after making the accusation, Hitchens added:
"Everyone in Pakistan knows she's open for business. This is not a left-right question. It's a
matter of integrity." In response, Salon.com senior editor-in-chief Joan Walsh said to Hitchens:
"I believe you cherry-picked the worst possible interpretation, as well as facts that aren't
necessarily facts, and come up with this analysis."
In a May 1, 2000, column in The Nation titled "The Two Faces of Hillary"
(available by subscription), which he quoted at length in the 2000 edition of No One Left to
Lie To, Hitchens provided no evidence for the accusation that Hillary Clinton "got" Bill
Clinton to go to Pakistan. Hitchens wrote:
General [Pervez] Musharraf's regime has now hired, at a retainer of $22,500 per month, the DC law
firm of Patton Boggs, for which Lanny Davis, one of the First Family's chief apologists, toils.
Perhaps for reasons having to do with the separation of powers, Patton Boggs also collects
$10,000 monthly from Pak-Pac, the Pakistani lobby in America, for Davis's services in its behalf.
Suddenly no more Dem jokes about ignorance of Pakistan.
Last December, after Clinton announced that Pakistan would not be on his itinerary when he
visited the subcontinent, his former White House "special counsel" arranged a fundraiser in
Washington at which lawyers from Patton Boggs made contributions to the First Lady's Senate
campaign that now total $25,500. So, not very indirectly, Pakistani military money was washed
into her coffers from the very start. Then, in February, another Pak-Pac event, in New York, was
brought forward so as to occur before the arrangements for the President's passage to India had
been finalized. Having been told that the First Lady did not grace any event for less than
$50,000 upfront, the Pakistanis came up with the dough and were handsomely rewarded for their
trouble by the presence of Lanny Davis and by a statement from Mrs. Clinton that she hoped her
spouse would stop off in Pakistan after all. And a few days later, he announced that, after much
cogitation, he would favor General Musharraf with a drop-by.
How does this look to you? One way of deciding it is to try the cover stories for size. "I wish I
could say I had the influence and had applied the right pressure for the President to visit
Pakistan, but I didn't, so I can't." That's Lanny Davis. Is this what he tells the Pakistanis in
return for his large stipend? "If anybody thinks they can influence the President by making a
contribution to me, they are dead wrong." That's Hillary Clinton. Is that what she said at the
Pak-Pac fundraiser?
One thing that strikes the eye immediately is how cheap this is. And inexpensive, too.
The Pakistani nuclear junta must be rubbing its eyes: For such a relatively small outlay of
effort it can get the First Family to perform public political somersaults. [emphasis in
original]
During his March 29, 2000, appearance on Hardball, Hitchens accused Bill Clinton of
"selling U.S. policy on Pakistan to help his wife" and claimed it was a "scandal." Host Chris
Matthews responded by asserting that Hillary "grabbed a ton of money from Pakistani-Americans, a
huge ethnic group with lots of money and she grabbed all their money and then she said she was
not going to encourage her husband to go to Pakistan but all of a sudden he went to Pakistan."
Hitchens responded: "No, she said at the dinner I hope he goes to Pakistan."
Contrary to Hitchens' overt accusation on December 1 that Hillary Clinton "got" Bill Clinton to
go to Pakistan and his suggested accusations to that effect earlier, The New York Times
reported in a March 14, 2000,
article that "no evidence has emerged that Hillary Rodham Clinton, who told people at the
dinner that she hoped her husband would visit Pakistan, had influenced his decision last week to
do so." The Times went on to quote White House spokesperson Mike Hammer as saying, "The
first lady's views were not part of the decision-making process." Additionally, the
Times noted that "Mr. Clinton has previously indicated his own desire to go to
Pakistan."
Additionally, contradicting Hitchens' claim that Davis "organized" the February 2000 New York
fundraiser, the Times reported that Davis said "he played no role in arranging the
fund-raiser."
As Media Matters for America has documented, in the context of reports that
Obama intended to nominate Clinton, Hitchens repeatedly attacked Clinton's foreign policy
credentials during appearances on MSNBC:
- On the November 18 edition of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Hitchens
suggested that Clinton was not "respected in the Pentagon," despite ample evidence that
Clinton "has gained a lot of respect among military leadership" and has "built relationships"
with military leaders such as Gen. David H. Petraeus and Adm. William J. Fallon.
- During the November 17 edition of Hardball, as well as the November 18
edition of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Hitchens
revived his accusation, which he has yet to source, that Hillary Clinton blocked any action
by the Clinton administration in war-torn Bosnia in 1993 because she didn't want it to
interfere with passage of her health-care plan.
From the December 1 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
MATTHEWS: OK, Joan, let me try to ask you to climb through that rubble. That's very complicated.
What do you think --
HITCHENS: Rubble?
MATTHEWS: -- of this appointment? It's complicated, Christopher, because you make the point that
this administration's policy hasn't been to the right of what Barack Obama is promising for his
administration, which most people would disagree with your view and accept mine -- that it is to
the left of what we've had for eight years now.
HITCHENS: Listen, is it left or right for Hillary Clinton to get her husband, after a huge
Pakistani fundraiser -- I'm speaking about something very important to us right now. A few years
ago, a huge Pakistani fundraiser, in New York, organized for her by Lanny Davis, she got Clinton
to change his plan to visit India and to build in a visit to Pakistan on the way in return for a
huge campaign donation. Everyone in Pakistan knows she's open for business. This is not a
left-right question. It's a matter of integrity.
WALSH: I think this is ridiculous. I think --
HITCHENS: Do we want such a person as secretary of state?
WALSH: Christopher, your views on the Clintons --
MATTHEWS: Joan, your turn.
WALSH: Christopher, your views on the Clintons' integrity are well-known. I consider them
eccentric. I believe that you cherry-picked --
HITCHENS: Getting --
WALSH: I'm not -- I'm not going to say that they are perfect, but I believe you cherry-picked the
worst possible interpretation, as well as facts that aren't necessarily facts, and come up with
this analysis.
HITCHENS: Name one. Name one.
WALSH: I think this is a terrific --
HITCHENS: Name one.
WALSH: I think this is a terrific -- I'm stepping -- I'm going to step around the rubble today,
Christopher.
HITCHENS: One, one.
From the March 29, 2000, edition of Hardball (retrieved from the Nexis news database):
MATTHEWS: Well, tell me about India and Pakistan and what your thoughts are.
HITCHENS: What about selling U.S. policy on Pakistan to help his wife? It's a scandal. I can't
believe [Rudy] Giuliani is being so quiet about it. If he saw --
MATTHEWS: So she went on television -- I know she grabbed a ton of money from
Pakistani-Americans, a huge ethnic group with lots of money and she grabbed all their money and
then she said she was not going to encourage her husband to go to Pakistan but all of a sudden he
went to Pakistan.
HITCHENS: No, she said at the dinner I hope he goes to Pakistan.
MATTHEWS: I hope he goes. But the fact is that it was never an issue.
HITCHENS: Of course, she's lied a lot about it, as she lies about everything. But you notice that
Lanny Davis, her former hack and flack, has been hired by the Pakistani military dictatorship. We were all laughing at Bush for being too nice
about that general and forgetting his name, remember?
MATTHEWS: Right.
HITCHENS: Now, Lanny Davis, the hack and flack for
the Clintons, is hired for 22 grand a month to represent this dictatorship in Washington and New
York. We find he arranged another big dinner in D.C. for fundraising and for pressure on the
Clintons. It's extraordinary.
MATTHEWS: You mean that guy that was on this show all the time defending Clinton --
HITCHENS: The whole compromise with dictatorship
and with a nuclear power to try and help his wretched wife and her wretched campaign in New York.
MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you --
HITCHENS: Where is the outrage, Christopher?
MATTHEWS: Well, it seems to be present in San Francisco where you are tonight. Let me ask you
about this Lanny Davis role. I'm fascinated. Twenty-two thousand dollars a month to represent the
dictatorship that overthrew the democratic government in Pakistan and he isn't part of the fundraising campaign, apparently. What's the
connection between Hillary -- the fundraising in
New York to get her elected to the Senate and the efforts by the Pakistani government to pay for goodwill here in Washington
through the good offices of Lanny Davis?
HITCHENS: Yeah, well Mr. Davis says, when he's
asked about the dinner he put on in Washington, well, I don't have this kind of influence to
change Mr. President Clinton's itinerary. Well, I wonder if that's what he tells the Pakistanis when they hand him the check. Don't give this to
me under the impression I can do anything, guys.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about --
HITCHENS: It's enough to make a cat laugh, isn't
it? But I mean it wouldn't be the first time they'd sold off a bit of foreign policy for some
domestic moolah.
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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