From:jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com
To: re47@hillaryclinton.com
CC: john.podesta@gmail.com, kschake@hillaryclinton.com
Date: 2015-04-17 01:38
Subject: Re: Foreign registered agents
Take the money!!
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 16, 2015, at 9:44 PM, Robby Mook <re47@hillaryclinton.comwrote:
Marc made a convincing case to me this am that these sorts of restrictions
don't really get you anything…that Obama actually got judged MORE harshly
as a result. He convinced me. So…in a complete U-turn, I'm ok just
taking the money and dealing with any attacks.
Are you guys ok with that?
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Dennis Cheng <dcheng@hillaryclinton.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 6:13 PM
Subject: RE: Foreign registered agents
To: Marc Elias <melias@hillaryclinton.com>, Robby Mook <
re47@hillaryclinton.com>
Cc: Karuna Seshasai <kseshasai@hillaryclinton.com>, Huma Abedin <
ha16@hillaryclinton.com>, Jesse Ferguson <jferguson@hillaryclinton.com>,
Kristina Schake <kschake@hillaryclinton.com>, Tony Carrk <
tcarrk@hillaryclinton.com>, Rebecca Leal <rleal@hillaryclinton.com>,
Nicholas Pancrazio <npancrazio@hillaryclinton.com>, Beth Jones <
bjones@hillaryclinton.com>, John Podesta <jp66@hillaryclinton.com>
Hi all – we really need to make a final decision on this. We’re getting to
the point of no return…
From: Marc Elias [mailto:melias@hillaryclinton.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 7:38 AM
To: Robby Mook
Cc: Dennis Cheng; Karuna Seshasai; Huma Abedin; Jesse Ferguson; Kristina
Schake; Tony Carrk; Rebecca Leal; Nicholas Pancrazio; Beth Jones; John
Podesta
Subject: Re: Foreign registered agents
If we do it case by case, then it will be subjective. We would look at who
the donor is and what foreign entity they are registered for. In judging
whether to take the money, we would consider the relationship between that
country and the United States, its relationship to the State Department
during Hillary's time as Secretary, and its relationship, if any, to the
Foundation. In judging the individual, we would look at their history of
support for political candidates generally and Hillary's past campaigns
specifically.
Put simply, we would use the same criteria we use for lobbyists, except
with a somewhat more stringent screen.
As a legal matter, I am not saying we have to do this - we can decide to
simply ban foreign registrants entirely. I'm just offering this up as a
middle ground.
On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 7:04 AM, Robby Mook <re47@hillaryclinton.comwrote:
Where do we draw the line though?
On Apr 15, 2015, at 11:22 PM, Marc Elias <melias@hillaryclinton.comwrote:
Responding to all on this. I was not on the call this morning, but I lean
away from a bright line rule here. It seems odd to say that someone who
represents Alberta, Canada can't give, but a lobbyist for Phillip Morris
can. Just as we vet lobbyists case by case, I would do the same with
FARA. While this may lead to a large number of FARA registrants being
denied, it would not be a flat our ban. A total ban feels arbitrary and
will engender the same eye-rolling and ill will that it did for Obama.
On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 11:09 PM, Dennis Cheng <dcheng@hillaryclinton.com>
wrote:
Hi all – we do need to make a decision on this ASAP as our friends who
happen to be registered with FARA are already donating and raising.
I do want to push back a bit (it’s my job!): I feel like we are leaving a
good amount of money on the table (both for primary and general, and then
DNC and state parties)… and how do we explain to people that we’ll take
money from a corporate lobbyist but not them; that the Foundation takes $
from foreign govts but we now won’t.
Either way, we need to make a decision soon.