"Clinton Cash," a forthcoming book examining Hillary Clinton's foreign finance links through the Clinton Foundation, threatens to give her presidential campaign at least pounding headaches.
The New York Times reported Sunday that the book, authored by Peter Schweizer – a former speechwriting consultant to former President George W. Bush – is "the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy."
The book is groundbreaking in that it promises to unveil a corrupt pattern of quid pro quo between the State Department and foreign entities who donated to the Clinton Foundation while she served as secretary.
"We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds," Schweizer explained ahead of the May 5 release.
After reading an advance copy of the book, the Times highlighted some of the prominent examples Schweizer lays out: "a free-trade agreement in Colombia that benefited a major foundation donor’s natural resource investments in the South American nation, development projects in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake in 2010, and more than $1 million in payments to Mr. Clinton by a Canadian bank and major shareholder in the Keystone XL oil pipeline around the time the project was being debated in the State Department."
Perhaps more threatening than the book in-and-of itself are arrangements the author made with the Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News to further explore the financial links he proposes.
Beyond the new media, presidential candidates Rand Paul and Marco Rubio – both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – have been briefed on the book's contents and have incorporated its findings into their respective campaigns.
The book has already raised hackles among Democrats, and Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon released a statement downplaying the books contents.
"We always expected that while Hillary Clinton focused on helping everyday Americans get ahead, the Republicans would focus on attacks rather than ideas," wrote Fallon. "It appears that this book is being used to aid this coordinated attack strategy, twisting previously known facts into absurd conspiracy theories. It will not be the first work of partisan-fueled fiction about the Clintons' record, and we know it will not be the last."
In addition to consulting for President Bush, Schweizer is a fellow at the Hoover Institution and has contributed to Breitbart.com