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Barring a truly unexpected turn, Clinton will be elected having never been seriously and effectively scrutinized by her opponents, nor really engaging with the press.
An Associated Press report last week found that of the 154 private citizens indicated by State Department records to have met with or phoned Secretary Clinton during her first years in Foggy Bottom, over half had donated to the Clinton Foundation: "Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million… At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million."This was a troubling revelation—if not proof that money buys access to the highest offices of the land, at the very least an indication of how the Clinton Foundation and its donors might taint a Clinton administration. Clinton herself dismissed it as "a lot of smoke and no fire." Yet the State Department has battled the AP in court to to keep Clinton's detailed schedules private until after the election, releasing some, once again, in dribs and drabs. It is not always entirely clear who has even donated to the Clinton Foundation's associated charities—and when a high-profile nonprofit with ties to the highest levels of government takes money from dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and private companies including Blackwater and Swiss banks like UBS, it's entirely reasonable to ask about the motives of people involved. The possibility of money influencing politics is real enough for Bill Clinton to vow to (maybe) stop accepting foreign donations should Hillary be elected. Why then were such donations accepted at all in the years leading up to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid?Clinton's defenders often say that the media subjects her and her husband to an unfair level of scrutiny. It is true that, amid the compelling truths of how the Clintons wield power, there exist a host of "Arkansas Project" conspiracy theories, falsehoods, and inventions deployed by the right purely to destroy a hated political adversary. But let's not kid ourselves. Clinton is a former secretary of state who has fomented foreign wars. She is a former senator for Wall Street's home state, dutifully representing its interests. She is married to a former president who has well-documented connections to nearly every other powerful person in the world, connections which have been invaluable to some of the wheeler-dealers listed as major Clinton Foundation donors. With that sort of influence should come a lot of prying eyes.Maybe if this campaign had played out differently, Clinton's secrecy would have doomed her. But as it stands, barring a truly unexpected turn, Clinton will be elected having never been seriously and effectively scrutinized by her opponents, nor really engaging with the press. In the wake of Barack Obama's devolution into one of the most secretive presidents in history, the ramifications of an emboldened, unaccountable, and opaque Clinton administration will reverberate far beyond a measly basement server in Chappaqua.Follow Dan O'Sullivan on Twitter.