Hillary Rodham Clinton is Columbia University’s professor of practice in the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). A statement from the dean of SIPA says Clinton is “now bringing her leadership and expertise to SIPA…to prepare the next generation of global policy leaders…” On January 5, 2023, Columbia News announced that Clinton “will help lead a major SIPA effort to convene outstanding policy thinkers from around the world to develop innovative policy solutions.” The publication also says she will help college executives “explore the fundamental questions on how to advance efforts to renew democracy and foster effective engagements with women and youth in [the United States] and around the world." Columbia University announced on March 22 that Clinton will be co-teaching a foreign policy course with Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo titled "Inside the Situation Room." The university stated that the goal of the course is:

"[T]o give students a holistic understanding of the many facets of foreign policy decision-making. As future participants in the policy process, this course will provide vital background that they can draw on should they, too, find themselves facing high-pressure decisions with implications for national security and global stability. It will also enhance their ability to counsel intelligence officers, military leaders, advisors, or other government officials by improving their ability to anticipate other actors' actions, perceptions, and motivation."

Students at Columbia University must apply in order to take the course. Accompanying the course announcement is a skit featuring Clinton and Yarhi-Milo (see video below). In the skit, the co-teachers talk about basic details of the course after scenes are shown of students reacting to the news that Clinton “is running again,” (that is, running a new course). Clinton says that she will cover “what it was actually like in the [situation] room during the Bin-Laden Raid, the Iran Sanctions, the Gaza Cease Fire, [and] you name it.”

Published - March 30, 2023

EARLY YEARS Clinton—who graduated in 1969 from Wellesley College as Hillary Rodham—allegedly wrote her senior thesis on political activist and grassroots strategist Sal Alinski. In 1972, he authored “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realist Radicals,” which centers on disrupting societies through revolutionary community organizing. Alinski infamously dedicated the volume of writing to the fallen angel and nemesis of God, Lucifer. Alinski is rumored to be Clinton’s “mentor” and a major influence on her flux from a stalwart Republican to a progressive Democrat by graduation. Although Clinton’s thesis is referenced in multiple media publications, the full composition is neither accessible through online archives nor searchable on her Wellesley alumni profile. According to NBC News, the academic paper is “available to anyone who visits the archive room of the prestigious women’s college outside Boston.” Throughout her time at Wellesley, Clinton served as the head of Wellesley’s Young Republicans Club from 1966-67; she also pursued a research assistant internship for the House Republican Conference during the summer of 1968 in D.C. A National Public Radio (NPR) article says, “In high school [Clinton]...considered herself a Republican and even became a Goldwater Girl.” NPR included a quote from Clinton’s book “Living History”: “‘My ninth-grade history teacher…encouraged me to read Senator Barry Goldwater’s book, The Conscience of a Conservative. That inspired me to write my term paper on the American conservative movement…I liked Senator Goldwater because he was a rugged individualist who swam against the political tide.’” Clinton earned a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School in 1973, joined the University of Arkansas Law School faculty in 1975, and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as a member of the board of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978. Clinton’s law career includes the controversial case of a 12-year-old sexual abuse survivor Kathy Shelton. Clinton, who served as legal counsel for rapist Thomas Alfred Taylor, worked to shorten his prison sentence. According to DailyMail, “One of Clinton’s first moves was to raise questions about the credibility of the…victim. In a July 18, 1975 affidavit, Clinton asked the court to order Shelton to undergo a psychiatric examination from a doctor selected by Taylor’s legal team.” Clinton accused Shelton of wanting attention from older men and subjected her to intense psychological interrogations. Clinton negotiated a plea deal and Taylor spent one year in county jail. SECRETARY OF STATE From 2009-2013, Clinton served as Secretary of State in the Obama administration. During this time, she used private email servers instead of State Department accounts to send classified, sensitive information. According to a statement released by the FBI, “Secretary Clinton used several different servers and administrators of those servers during her four years at the State Department, and used numerous mobile devices to view and send e-mail on that personal domain.” The FBI goes further into detail on thousands of work-related emails that Clinton withheld, several of which included highly sensitive information on unclassified personal servers. The FBI also discovered Clinton was using her personal email in and out of the country. In 2016, Investors Business Daily reported that Clinton and her organization, the Clinton Foundation, were also undergoing an FBI investigation for violating “tax laws by converting donations into personal or political use.” An annual report (below) shows donations plummeting when Clinton was not running for a public office, and sharp increases when she ran for President of the United States. After Clinton lost the election, donations fell by 88%.

The Clintons, as well as advocates for the foundation, defended the organization’s reputation insisting that “the foundation was doing great work for mankind.” According to the Observer, foreign countries such as “Australia, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and a Canadian government agency…all donated to the Clinton Foundation.” The New York Times also reported that Saudi Arabia, a country that heavily restricts the rights of women, donated more than $10 million to the foundation during Hillary’s 2016 Presidential Campaign. The screenshot below shows some of Clinton's campaign promises under "Women's Rights and Opportunity":

RUSSIAGATE Clinton spent her time in public office leveraging several foreign connections. During her time as First Lady, from 1993-2001, Clinton solicited foreign donations to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from businessmen with connections to the Chinese Communist Party. The scandal would eventually be known as “Chinagate.” While serving as Secretary of State, Clinton approved the sale of 20% of U.S. uranium reserves to a Russian company. The financial backers of the venture funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation before the sale. Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for a speech in Moscow the same month the deal was finalized. In October 2016, Clinton released a statement via advisor Jake Sullivan—who was later appointed as National Security Advisor to Joe Biden— accusing Donald Trump of coordinating with Vladimir Putin to hack the DNC’s servers and release sensitive information. She alleged this was accomplished through a backchannel to the Kremlin through Alfa Bank.

Computer scientists have uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank. pic.twitter.com/8f8n9xMzUU
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 1, 2016

Although this was known to be false, DNC lawyer Michael Sussman approached the FBI and provided the agency with the fraudulent information. The Clinton campaign also funded what became known as the “Steele Dossier”—a document containing salacious and fallacious information alleging Trump was connected to Russian intelligence. Despite knowing the information was also unverified, the FBI used the dossier to obtain warrants to surveil Trump’s 2016 Presidential Campaign. BENGHAZI On September 11, 2012, four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed during an attack on an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The Senate Select Committee’s Benghazi Report shows Clinton ignored the “ample strategic warning that [the] security situation in eastern Libya was deteriorating and that U.S. facilities and personnel were at risk in Benghazi.” Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta testified that he had identified “three distinct capabilities” to deploy to Benghazi by 6 pm and had “issued the order to deploy the identified assets” by 7 pm. However, at 7:30 pm, a “Deputies Meeting” was convened in the White House. The meeting featured Clinton and deputies from State, the Pentagon, and the White House, while both the President and Secretary of Defense were absent. During this meeting, Clinton obstructed the direct order from the President, noting that her “State department emphasized any deployment of U.S. Forces into Libya needed approval from the Government of Libya.” The Americans in Benghazi were ultimately rescued by a group of former Gaddafi loyalists not affiliated with the Libyan government while American forces were in a “stand-by posture” awaiting the resolution of Secretary Clinton’s obstruction. After the attacks, Secretary Clinton issued an official statement, claiming the assault may have been in “a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.” However, emails uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Judicial Watch show that Clinton’s top three staff members were forwarded an email on September 11, 2012, at 6:06 PM with the subject line “Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack (SBU).” The email, from State Department Foreign Service Officer Lawrence Randolph, read: “(SBU) Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and call for an attack on Embassy Tripoli.” Despite knowing this, Clinton and other government officials stuck to the theory that the attacks were in response to a YouTube video. Clinton will assume the position with Columbia University on February 1, 2023.

Published January 25, 2023

Professor Watchlist