Who is Sidney Blumenthal, who is called Rasputin from the White House

The protagonist of the next portion of Hillary Clinton’s emails on the Internet has once again become not the US presidential candidate itself, but its perennial adviser Sidney Blumenthal. In particular, Blumenthal advised Clinton when she held the post of Secretary of State, and although he did not officially work in the government, Clinton shared with him information of state importance — for example, intelligence about the operation in Libya. That man is Sydney Blumenthal, tells Vox.

Sydney Blumenthal, who at various times worked as an adviser and president of the United States, Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State Hillary, has many ill-wishers. For his devotion to the Clinton couple and his readiness to go for any tricks he was called Sid Vishez from the White House, and for the influence that he extended to both politicians, Rasputin. However, in reality, Blumenthal is not a cartoon courtier at all. He is a thinker who devoted his whole life and career to reviving American liberalism, writes Vox.

Blumenthal is known as a journalist and political analyst. At various times, he wrote for major American publications, in 1980-i was the author of several books about the American political system.

Ex-US President Bill Clinton.
Photo:Vox

Blumenthal met Bill Clinton in 1987 and quite quickly recognized him as “a verbose but charismatic speaker and thoughtful person.” Back in the presidential election of 1984, Blumenthal began to combine the work of a journalist and a political consultant: he wrote speeches for Democratic candidate Gary Hart, while publishing laudatory notes about him in The New Republic. After meeting with Clinton, he continued to act by the same methods.

It was Blumenthal who introduced Clinton to Tony Blair, at that moment - the promising British politician (of course, before that Blumenthal and him dedicated great essay). Blumenthal considered Clinton and Blair to be the people who would reform and modernize the left idea together.

It is not surprising that soon Sydney Blumenthal gained fame as the most ardent supporter of Clinton among Washington journalists writing. Many were not embarrassed by the close relations between the journalist and the president - in the end, happened. Critics believed that Blumenthal actually did her work for the presidential administration.

Finally, in 1997, Blumenthal went to work at the White House, becoming an adviser to President Clinton.

In the White House, Blumenthal had a wide range of responsibilities: in particular, he wrote many speeches and speeches for Clinton. And during the scandal with Monica Lewinsky, Blumenthal consistently defended Clinton and actually saved him from impeachment. Speaking as a witness, he denied the link between the president and the trainee. Blumenthal was also suspected of having organized a campaign to slander Lewinsky — to turn the investigation and public opinion against her.

Sydney Blumenthal recalled that he had believed to the last that Monica Lewinsky had slandered Clinton. However, the main thing for him was not this: he "did not defend Bill, but the whole country." According to Blumenthal, the investigation against Clinton was biased: without finding legitimate reasons to remove the president, the prosecution focused on his personal life. If the impeachment was a success, according to Blumenthal, this would be a blow to the Constitution and all American politics.

In 2000, Sidney Blumenthal continued to maintain a close relationship with the Clintons, and in 2007, he became an adviser to Hillary during the election race (Clinton fought for the right of nomination from the Democrats with Barack Obama). Blumenthal's participation in the campaign was remembered by the incident with drunk driving - Blumenthal was detained for double speeding, as well as by extremely dirty methods of conducting the election campaign. The headquarters of Barack Obama argued that during the primaries, only Blumenthal allowed himself to emphasize the skin color of Obama and appeal to racial prejudice.

As a result, when, after the election of Obama, Hillary Clinton took the post of state secretary and gave a hint of what she would like to make Blumenthal her adviser, the Obama team rebelled. A spokesman for the White House, Robert Gibbs, said bluntly the head of the presidential administration, Rama Emmanuel: If she hires hisI will quit. " Clinton had to accept, and did not take the Blumenthal to the State Department.

Nevertheless, Clinton regularly turned to him for advice on all key foreign policy issues, from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to the UK elections. Judging by the information from the hacked mail, the secretary of state shared with the unofficial adviser, who did not hold any position in the government, intelligence about the operation in Libya.

Blumenthal claims that he advised Clinton as a private individual and did not receive a single cent for his services. However the politico edition found outthat during this period he was actually a staff member of the Clinton Foundation, where he earned ten thousand dollars a month.