At the very moment both the left and the right are yearning for an outsider president who doesn’t do business as usual, Democrats are on the cusp of nominating the most egregious insider of them all.

Hillary has all the hallmarks of some Banana Republic autocrat, including shady, profitable dealings with well-connected friends.

Hillary Clinton is not just the top girl in the old boys’ network. She has all the hallmarks of some Banana Republic autocrat, including shady, profitable dealings with well-connected friends and possible criminal behavior related to her emails that is currently being investigated by the FBI.

She claims to be fighting for the people. But the record shows a long line of ethically challenged fights on behalf of herself that threaten to continue should she take up residence in the White House.

The most recent revelation of cozy corruption, unveiled by The Wall Street Journal, highlights a financial commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative that benefited a company owned by people with ties to the Clintons. The company, Energy Pioneer Solutions, Inc., received an $812,000 Energy Department grant after the company was recommended by Bill Clinton to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu for a federal grant.

The Clinton Global Initiative, which is supposed to be a charity, is a tax-exempt charitable organization that is not permitted to help private individuals make money.

The report is just the latest example of the web of conflicting interests surrounding the charity, which has been accused of being a kind of slush fund for foreigners who donated to the charity in return for favors from the U.S. government while Clinton was secretary of state.

According to the book “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” by Peter Schweizer, people with interests in the United States – Colombia Free Trade Agreement, post-earthquake development projects in Haiti, and the Keystone XL Pipeline all dropped money into the Clinton charity.

“During Hillary’s years of public service, the Clintons have conducted or facilitated hundreds of large transactions” with foreign governments and individuals, Schweizer writes, in a quote that was highlighted by The New York Times. “Some of these transactions have put millions in their own pockets.” The book has been made into a movie that will premiere in Philadelphia in July, on the eve of the Democratic convention.

[lz_jwplayer video=”4bsEJRJ2″ ads=”true”]

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Charity Navigator, which rate nonprofits, put the Clinton Foundation on its “watch list” of problematic charities.

Bill Clinton himself has served as a kind of human slush fund. More than two dozen companies and groups and one foreign government paid him a total of more than $8 million to give speeches — around the time they also had matters before Hillary’s State Department, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Clintons’ largess to their friends at the public’s expense extended to the highest reaches of the State Department. While serving as Hillary’s chief of staff at State in 2009, Cheryl Mills — who also defended Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial — was permitted to collect $198,000 working part-time for New York University, negotiating to build a campus in Abu Dhabi. According to The Washington Post, she also collected $330,000 in vacation and severance payments from NYU — all while managing the State Department.

Hillary, like Bill, has made plenty of her own money delivering her thoughts to various assemblies of fat cats.

Huma Abedin, perhaps Clinton’s closest current adviser, was also permitted to work at an outside consulting firm and the Clinton Foundation at the same time she was serving as deputy chief of staff at State.

Hillary, like Bill, has made plenty of her own money delivering her thoughts to various assemblies of fat cats. Once ensconced in the West Wing, it’s anybody’s guess how beholden she will be to the many entities that paid her a fortune after she was secretary of state for a few minutes of speaking time.

Mrs. Clinton gave 92 speeches between 2013 and 2015, according to a recent report by CNN Money, including eight to big banks that netted her $1.8 million. She appeared three times at Goldman Sachs. Her standard fee was $225,000, and she hauled in $21.6 million in just under two years.

[lz_related_box id=”140643″]

And that’s not all. According CNN, Clinton required travel by private jet, preferring a Gulfstream 450 or larger. Her staff required first class and business class tickets. And two members of her staff required up to three days on site to prepare, with all local transportation and meals included. Clinton had to be booked into a presidential suite with up to three separate rooms attached.

Perhaps Bill Clinton’s pardon of Mark Rich, done on his last day in office, foretells the type of help-your-friends approach that Hillary will bring to the Oval Office. Rich was wanted on a roster of charges, including tax fraud and dealing illegally with America’s enemies, such as Iranian Ayotallah Khomenei. But alas, his ex-wife Denise had donated $450,000 to the William J. Clinton Presidential Center.

The Clintons just can’t help it. If there’s the slightest itch, somebody’s back is going to get scratched. Once they are back in the West Wing, the opportunities for questionable quid pro quos will be endless.

Keith Koffler is the editor of the website White House Dossier.