Hillary Clinton Arranged Private Meeting with Executive at Heart of Clinton’s Dow Chemical Scandal

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Hillary Clinton arranged a private meeting with an executive at the heart of her Dow Chemical donation scandal.

Clinton’s relationship with Dow Chemical chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris is coming under scrutiny. Breitbart reported that Dow began partnering with the Clinton Global Initiative immediately after Hillary Clinton drafted a bill to regulate a chemical produced by Dow that Clinton said harms women and children. That bill died quietly, Clinton never brought it up again, and her financial relationship with Liveris continued.

The New York Times reported Friday:

In one exchange in July 2009, Ms. Abedin told Mrs. Clinton’s scheduler that Mr. Clinton “wants to be sure” that Mrs. Clinton would be able to see Andrew Liveris, the chief executive of Dow Chemical, at an event the next night. Dow Chemical has been one of the biggest donors to the Clinton Foundation, giving $1 million to $5 million, records show.

Ms. Abedin arranged what she called “a pull-aside” for Mr. Liveris to speak with Mrs. Clinton in a private room after she arrived to give a speech, according to the emails, which did not explain the reason for the meeting.

The person with knowledge of the issue said that this email chain also related to Mr. Clinton’s North Korea trip because Mr. Liveris had offered to let Mr. Clinton use his private plane.

Breitbart News reported in February:

Clinton wrote a letter to then-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Stephen L. Johnson on October 5, 2005 stating that children and seniors are vulnerable to the toxic effects of TCE, which is mostly used as a metal degreaser, and urging the EPA to take action to stop the chemical from harming people.

“Endicott, Hopewell Junction and Ithaca are known to be contaminated with volatile organic compounds where TCE is also known to be present,” Clinton’s Senate office said in a press release at the time touting her letter…

…On August 1, 2007, Clinton introduced the TCE Reduction Act of 2008 as the bill’s lead sponsor. The text of the bill made clear that “pregnant women, infants, and children” are vulnerable to TCE’s toxic effects…

Shortly after Clinton introduced her bill, the nation’s largest producer of TCE partnered with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and eventually became a CGI sponsor.

“Dow is one of two companies that produce trichloroethylene in the United States,”according to Dow Chemical Company documents. “Dow produces trichloroethylene in Freeport, Texas. In 2011, global consumption of trichloroethylene was 429,500 metric tons (947 million pounds) versus global production capacity of 547,000 metric tons (1,206 million pounds).”

Dow Chemical pledged a $30 million loan guarantee for a clean-water program in India at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting. Dow chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris announced the loan while appearing at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City between September 26-27, 2007, less than two months after Clinton introduced the TCE Reduction Act…

…Liveris hung around in Clinton-World and became a trusted friend to Hillary and Bill. Dow contributed between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2014.

Dow was a sponsor of the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in 2010 and 2011. Liveris was a featured attendee at the 2012 meeting.

Liveris gave Bill Clinton use of a Dow company airplane in 2009 when the former president went to North Korea to successfully negotiate with Kim Jong Il for the release of two American journalists being held in the country.

Liveris allegedly bought $300 worth of flowers for Hillary Clinton personally and charged it to Dow Chemical, according to a recent whistleblower lawsuit against the company…

…Dow Chemical’s relationship with Clinton-World also extends to the private sector, where the company works with Teneo Holdings, the New York City corporate advisory firmfounded by notorious former Bill Clinton right-hand man Doug Band.

A former Dow employee claimed in a whistle-blower case that Dow began paying $16 million per year to Teneo while Teneo was working as a contractor for Liveris’ Greece-focused charity The Hellenic Initiative. Dow’s payments to Teneo reportedly ballooned from $2.8 million in 2011 to “at least $16 million” in 2012. For its part, Dow says its payments to Teneo grew because of consolidating and streamlining contracts in Teneo’s hands, thus saving Dow money.

Teneo co-founders Doug Band and Declan Kelly sit on the board of directors of the Hellenic Initiative.

Additionally, Bill Clinton spoke at The Hellenic Initiative in 2013…

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