In the end, it didn’t matter. The New York Times may have thrown its weight behind Hillary Clinton for president in 2008, but the effort was a waste of time and ink. She lost.
Nevertheless, the Washington Free Beacon—once again, it would seem—unearthed an astonishing bombshell Sunday evening: The Clintons reportedly gave an organization affiliated with the New York Times a nice, hefty sum of cash around the same time the newspaper endorsed her for president.
A little-known private foundation controlled by Bill and Hillary Clinton donated $100,000 to the New York Times’ charitable fund in 2008, the same year the newspaper’s editorial page endorsed Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary, according to tax documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.The Clinton Family Foundation, a separate entity from the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, has been the family’s vehicle for personal charitable giving since 2001.
It is funded directly by the Clintons and distributes more than $1 million a year to civic and educational causes.
Whether this was some sort of “corrupt bargain,” or pure coincidence, is anyone’s guess. But for a candidate with sagging favorability ratings, trust issues, and a penchant for deleting personal emails so that the public can’t read them, this latest revelation is surely not generating the kind of press she's yearning for.
On the contrary, perhaps all the unanswered and unclarified questions are finally starting to catch up with her.
UPDATE: The Times has thrown cold water on the Free Beacon's scoop, calling it "preposterous."