Clintons ‘tried to get Irish scholarship for Chelsea’s boyfriend’
BILL and Hillary Clinton have been accused of trying to obtain a scholarship to Ireland for a boyfriend of their daughter Chelsea.
In a new tell-all book, former Democratic foreign policy adviser Trina Vargo accuses the Clintons of ‘nepotism, dishonesty and vindictiveness’.
The new book called Shenanigans: The US-Ireland Relationship In Uncertain Times claims the Clintons retaliated when Ms Vargo didn’t deliver a scholarship so Chelsea Clinton’s boyfriend could attend college in Ireland.
Hillary Clinton later cut funding for the scholarship programme Ms Vargo had set up. Ms Vargo, who founded the US-Ireland Alliance, a DC-based nonprofit, spent years advising Senator Ted Kennedy and the Clinton and Obama administrations on Northern Ireland.
Ms Vargo set up a scholarship named after George Mitchell, the former US senator who helped broker the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. It sends 12 US students to study in Ireland and Northern Ireland each year.
In her book, Ms Vargo writes that in November 2000, Mr Mitchell told her that he had received a call from Mr Clinton, saying he was unhappy that Chelsea’s boyfriend had not been shortlisted for the scholarship.
Senator Mitchell said Mr Clinton was just seeking clarification, but Ms Vargo writes: ‘It would be hard to believe the timing of the call wasn’t aimed at influencing us to make him a finalist.’
Chelsea Clinton’s boyfriend never made the shortlist, which Ms Vargo said made her a target of the powerful couple. In 2012, the US State Department, then under Mrs Clinton, cut funding to the Mitchell scholarship, citing budgetary measures.
Later, in 2012, Hillary Clinton’s State Department cut its annual $500,000 contribution to the Mitchell scholarship, again citing budgetary measures.
Angel Urena and Nick Merrill, spokespersons for the Clintons, told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Their legacy there is something they are incredibly proud of and one that is well documented. These accusations are baseless and patently false. While funding was cut when Secretary Clinton was at the State Department, funding was also cut under Secretary [John] Kerry. [The cuts were] the product of a constant battle with a Republican Congress to fight for diplomatic and development dollars, there is nothing more to it than that. In addition, we would point out that Senator Mitchell and President Clinton were together in Northern Ireland last year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.’
Ms Vargo’s book is due to be released in the US in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, has said she will not run for the US presidency in 2020, but has vowed she is ‘not going anywhere’.
The former First Lady, who lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump, ruled out another campaign. She said: ‘I’m going to keep on... standing up for what I believe.’ Speaking in an interview, she added: ‘What’s at stake in our country, the kind of things that are happening right now, are deeply troubling to me.’
‘Dishonest and vindictive’ ‘Baseless and patently false’