Swamp logic ...

The Swamp creatures in DC thrive on “technicalities.”  It’s their go-to excuse for avoiding punishment for doing something clearly wrong by almost anyone else’s standards.  “Well, it might look bad but it’s not technically illegal … ” How many times have we heard that?

It’s lawyerly crap.  It’s also all too common in Washington. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone since most people there are lawyers.  And weasels.  On both sides of the aisle. 

How does someone making $140K a year suddenly become a millionaire while they are in Congress? How do their children and spouses also become millionaires at the same time? How do spouses and offspring of officials get rich while a family member has a government job?  

Oh no, nothing to see here. 

The common defense is that whatever happened wasn’t technically illegal.  That’s rich. Congress exempts itself from a whole lot of rules that would land anyone else behind bars. Like insider trading.  So while the SEC would haul in Martha Stewart – and send her to prison – for using an insider tip to save money, those in Congress do the same thing all the time. 

Want to know how someone in Congress gets rich making $140K a year, while also maintaining two residences?  It’s easy. They trade on information not available to people outside of Congress. They put in earmarks for roads and other infrastructure projects that will dramatically increase the value of real estate they own.  They buy up stocks based on closed-door budget briefings, and short stocks of companies when they know funding to them is going to get cut. 

Here’s the really slick part to cover their tracks: they often swap earmarks with someone outside their own district in return for putting in earmarks in that other politician’s district. 

For example, why else would someone representing Nevada sneak in Federal funding for a road to nowhere in another state? Generosity?  Statesmanship? I don’t think so, especially when that road to nowhere suddenly and dramatically increases the value of land owned by that other state’s Congressman and his or her business partners.

Then the favor is returned, by sneaking in funding for a pet project of the Nevada Congressman, which will also substantially enrich the Nevada rep and his or her partners.

This happens all the time. How do you think a lightweight like Harry Reid got so rich? How do you think all those middle-income folks who entered Congress left as millionaires?       

But do you think anyone in Congress is going to do anything about self-dealing and using their positions to enrich themselves? Of course not. 

Then there are their offspring.

That’s another way to trade on their position to land plum jobs for their children.

Does anyone really think Hunter Biden got his job at a corrupt entity like Burisma, paying $83K a month, because of his experience in energy in Ukraine? 

He’s just the tip of the iceberg. 

Hunter Biden was in a partnership with John Kerry’s stepson, Chris Heinz, in something called Rosemont Capital – an arm of the Heinz family foundation, prior to Hunter taking the seat at Burisma. Chris Heinz was also a partner with Devon Archer, Heinz’ college roommate and friend of John Kerry, in Rosemont Seneca Partners, a private equity firm – another Heinz foundation entity.  Archer took a seat on the Burisma board right before Hunter did.

To bring this all full circle, Rosemont Seneca was the private equity firm that got a $1.5 billion commitment out of nowhere from the Chinese following a trip Hunter took with Joe on Air Force 2 to China. Coincidence?  

Let’s see: Biden, Kerry, Heinz – do those names sound familiar? 

How about Clinton?  Let’s just discuss Hillary and Chelsea.

As First Lady of Arkansas Hillary engaged in a series of unusual commodity-futures trades – with no prior trading experience – that that turned her initial $1K investment into $100K.  Just lucky, I suppose, right? Well, one analysis by Auburn University put the odds of what she accomplished as 1 in 31 trillion. 

Was it illegal? Like most things with the Clintons we’ll never know. There was never an official government investigation.  

Everyone does know why Hillary and Bill later set up the William J. Clinton Foundation that took in hundreds of millions, however.  It was for the money and to employ Clinton supporters.  Most of that money poured in while Hillary was a Senator, Secretary of State and when she was running for President, and a lot of it came from big multinational corporations.

A lot also came from countries with atrocious human rights records.  Like Saudi Arabia. Qatar. Oman.  And corrupt players like Ukrainian and other Eastern European oligarchs.  She was Secretary of State.  You figure it out. 

Then she ran for President and more came in, along with huge speaking fees for her and Bill, like $500K for a speech Bill made in Russia. 

But donations and speaking fees for Hillary and Bill dropped dramatically after Hillary lost her bid for the Oval Office. Coincidence? 

Their daughter Chelsea – who exudes all the personality of an avocado – got an on-air job at NBC in 2011 paying $600K a year. Also in 2011, she got a seat on the board of IAC/Interactive, a company run by Barry Diller (a Clinton supporter) that paid her $50K and granted her $250K worth of restricted stock. For what?  

This is how the Swamp really works.  People sell their positions and names for money. They routinely trade on insider information. They use Federal funding to support often ludicrous projects that will enrich themselves and their friends.  They secure ridiculously lavish jobs for their offspring with no discernible skills. They know outside entities are giving cushy jobs to their kids and contributing to their campaigns for only one reason: to buy influence and access.

Yet using Swamp logic, they haven’t done anything wrong.  At least technically. 

As Joe Biden said of his son’s ability to secure an $83K per month board seat on Burisma and get a $1.5 billion commitment from the Chinese for Hunter’s private equity firm both while Joe was VP, none of this was illegal.  Technically, perhaps not. Ethically is an entirely different matter.

Wrong? Absolutely.    

And both Bill and Hillary maintain to this day that contributions to the Clinton Foundation and big speaking fees had absolutely no influence on Hillary’s decisions as Secretary of State or her role on the CFIUS group that approved the controversial Uranium One deal.  But shortly after the deal went through, investors in Uranium One contributed millions to the Clinton Foundation.

Just another coincidence, I suppose. 

If you want to really understand quid pro quo, look no further than the Swamp in DC.  It’s the coin of the realm for politicians and bureaucrats who dwell in the Swamp. 

Everything there is a transaction.  And sometimes those transactions are just plain wrong. Sometimes wildly unethical.  Yet rarely called out as such. 

You can thank Swamp logic which always protects its own.