"Many of Bill Clinton's six-figure speeches have been made to companies whose employees and political action committees have been among Hillary Clinton's top backers in her Senate campaigns," note John Solomon and Matthew Mosk. For example, the Post reporters discovered that Goldman Sachs paid Bill $650,000 for four speeches in the last few years, while its employees and PAC have given Hillary $270,000 since 2000.
Citigroup also made large contributions to the Clintons' efforts by paying Bill $250,000 for a speech in France in 2004 and committing $5.5 million toward his Global Initiative aimed at helping the poor in other countries start their own small businesses, while its employees and PAC gave more than $320,000 to Hillary's campaigns.
If this isn't buying influence, what is? Bill Clinton may give one heck of a speech and his charitable efforts may be commendable, but does anyone really believe that his benefactors aren't prompted to give largely because they want to buy access and influence with Hillary? And what better way than to fatten the couple's bank account, boost the ever-insecure former president's ego, and help the missus reach the pinnacle of American politics?
Maybe Bill and Hillary thought no one would notice this influence-buying. More likely, they believed they'd be given a pass, since it was being done in the noble cause of furthering their liberal policy agenda.
Like some 16th-century Antinomians who believed that they were anointed by God and could therefore ignore the moral laws that applied to the rest of mankind, the Clintons seem to think that they can do whatever they want in pursuit of some greater good. But the more ambitious and greedy they become, the less likely they'll get away with it.