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The answer, she said, was that exports in sectors such as telecommunications and aerospace can drive job growth in the United States. She touted her department’s work advocating for Boeing in places like Turkey, Brazil and Vietnam.
Only weeks into Clinton’s four-year tenure as secretary of state, State Department and Boeing leaders talked about how to open up new business in Russia. Within months, she visited Moscow and made what she described as a “shameless pitch” to a Russian airline to buy Boeing passenger jets.
“I hope that on a future visit I’ll see a lot of new [Boeing] planes when I land in Moscow,” Clinton said.
It worked. Months later, in 2010, Boeing got the deal — selling 50 jets valued at $3.7 billion.
World’s fair help
Boeing, meanwhile, was providing Clinton with support early in her tenure.
At the end of 2008, China was finalizing plans to host the 2010 world’s fair. But as most countries prepared to break ground at the exposition venue, the U.S. fundraising team was about to shut down, short on cash and without any pathway to raise the many millions needed to showcase U.S. businesses.
State Department officials warned that if the U.S. abandoned the event, there would likely be “extremely widespread” consequences — to both diplomatic and commercial interests. When former President Carter visited Shanghai in January 2009, the Chinese delegation pushed him to raise the fair on the agenda at the new Obama administration and State Department, according to a diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks.
A Shanghai official seemed to mock the U.S. with a half-joke, according to one cable, saying the Chinese organizers could convert the area reserved for the U.S. pavilion “to a restaurant, or better yet, a McDonald’s.”
Part of the problem was that the nonprofit tapped to raise money for the U.S. effort had been barred by the State Department from soliciting money from many big corporations, including Boeing, said U.S. exposition organizer Nick Winslow. But as the issue rose to Clinton, who made her first visit to China in February 2009, the fundraising lurched forward.
Winslow said the nonprofit was eventually able to solicit money from Boeing and others.
Winslow said he wasn’t aware of Clinton playing a role in any fundraising and that he didn’t see any political pressure. But, he added: “Knowing that it was important to the State Department, did that help? Of course it did.”
Clinton herself couldn’t solicit money, Winslow said, although the State Department now says nothing would preclude her from doing so. Clinton’s emails indicate she was closely involved with the fundraising. In early 2010, an aide emailed a list of companies and their donations, adding that Boeing was set to add even more to the effort.
“Good work,” Clinton responded. “Let me know if I need to do anything else.”
The aide, Kris Balderston, responded by saying that Mark Penn, the chief strategist to Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, had been “very helpful.” He said “Terry” was also helpful — presumably a reference to Terry McAuliffe, chairman of Clinton’s campaign in 2008 and currently Virginia’s governor.
Boeing ultimately gave $2 million to the expo, helping revive U.S. participation and giving Clinton a major foreign-policy achievement. State Department officials celebrated the large donation, and at an event in Shanghai five days later, Clinton singled out the company, praising Boeing as a “special sponsor.”
Foundation help
As Clinton and Boeing were aiding each other’s agendas at the State Department, the company in turn supported the Clintons outside of government.
In August 2010, soon after the Russian airliner deal, Boeing donated $900,000 to theClinton Foundation to support Haiti education projects. Boeing said Clinton and Boeing would work together to identify specific projects to help Haiti’s recovery from the earthquake earlier in the year….
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/as-hillary-clinton-bolstered-boeing-company-returned-the-favor/