The book the Hillary Clinton campaign labeled a “dud” and erected an entire war room to combat will debut at number two on the New York Times bestseller list behind two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, reports Politico’s Mike Allen.
Weeks before its release, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich (HarperCollins) by Government Accountability Institute President and Breitbart Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer took the political and media worlds by storm, prompting endless coverage and confirmation of the book’s reporting on how Hillary and Bill Clinton used their family foundation and Hillary’s tenure as Secretary of State to engage in self-enrichment. The investigative units of the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, and ABC News each verified the accuracy of the book’s major revelations before the book’s official release.
In answer to questions about Clinton Cash, former President Bill Clinton said of the book, “It won’t fly.” But the bombshell investigative book has flown—right off the bookshelves at retailers across the nation.
So much so, in fact, that publishing giant HarperCollins has struggled to keep the book stocked, prompting a sixth printing by the book’s first week of launch.
Bloomberg editor John Heilemann lauded Clinton Cash’s “brilliant” marketing strategy, which sent the Hillary Clinton machine and its neophyte spokesman Brian Fallon into a communications tailspin from which it has not recovered. By choosing to allow the investigative units at media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Fox News to verify and confirm the book’s explosive revelations, Heilemann says Schweizer and his GAI team inoculated the book against the Clinton’s usual smear tactics.
The result: Hillary Clinton has gone radio silent for over a month and has yet to answer questions about the book’s myriad revelations, which media have confirmed are accurate.
Worse for the Hillary Clinton campaign, the former Sec. of State’s communications challenge has grown more daunting as leading reform-minded progressives have come out in support of Clinton Cash and expressed outrage over Hillary Clinton’s lack of response to its serious reporting, including: Columbia University Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs, progressive columnist Eleanor Clift, Demos Senior Fellow Nomi Prins, Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, and progressive columnist Jonathan Chait.
On Wednesday, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) began circulating a letter on Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to launch an IRS investigation of the Clinton Foundation’s tax exempt status. And progressive commentator and radio host Alan Colmes said he supports an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
“She’s got to answer questions,” said Colmes. “She’s got to stand up and answer to the press, whether it’s a news conference or an interview… The FBI might want to look into this.”
Clinton Cash is Peter Schweizer’s fourth New York Times bestseller.