MarketWatch reports that Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google and Clinton lackey, has been tasked by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) to “reimagine” the post-pandemic state.
Schmidt will reportedly lead a blue-ribbon commission where he will focus on changing New York state’s approach to a range of issues, including “telehealth, remote learning and expanding broadband access.”
Meanwhile, according to the report, Gov. Cuomo has tapped the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to “reimagine education.”
This news comes just days after a feature in the New York Times about Schmidt’s longtime ambition to insert himself into the workings of the U.S. government, particularly in matters of national defense.
Via the New York Times:
Four years later, Mr. Schmidt, 65, has channeled his blunt assessment of the military’s tech failings into a personal campaign to revamp America’s defense forces with more engineers, more software and more A.I. In the process, the tech billionaire, who left Google last year, has reinvented himself as the prime liaison between Silicon Valley and the national security community.
Mr. Schmidt now sits on two government advisory boards aimed at jump starting technological innovation at the Defense Department. His confidants include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and ex-Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work. And through his own venture capital firm and a $13 billion fortune, Mr. Schmidt has invested millions of dollars into more than half a dozen defense start-ups.
According to the Times, Schmidt’s ambitions were encouraged by Obama’s defense secretary, Ash Carter.
At the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Carter asked Mr. Schmidt to meet. He had a proposal: Could Mr. Schmidt lead the Defense Innovation Board, a civilian advisory group tasked with bringing new technology to the Pentagon?
“We were in one of these dumpy hotels, and there he is with his small entourage walking in, and he basically said to me, ‘This is what I want to do. You’d be the perfect person to be chairman,’” Mr. Schmidt said.
Schmidt has long cultivated close relationships with the Democrat party establishment. In John Podesta’s emails, published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, it was revealed that Schmidt (then still chief executive of Google), was pitching himself to be “head outside adviser” to the Clinton campaign as early as 2014. On election night, Schmidt was seen at Clinton’s “victory” party in New York, wearing a “campaign staff” badge.
His connection to the Clinton campaign may not have yielded the expected dividends of White House influence, but his appointment to the New York blue-ribbon commission by Gov. Cuomo shows Schmidt’s standing with high-profile Democrats remains strong.
Are you an insider at Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News.
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