Two People Taking on the Clintons Reportedly Committed Suicide Last Week

Two People Taking on the Clintons Reportedly Committed Suicide Last Week

The Stream - Friday July 21, 2017

by Rachel Alexander

Last week, two men hostile to the Clintons reportedly committed suicide. One, longtime GOP operative Peter Smith, was found suffocated in his hotel room a day after telling hotel staff he’d be checking out. Smith had been a major figure in exposing Bill Clinton’s 1990s “Troopergate” scandal. He had been trying to get the emails presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had deleted from her personal server.

The other, former Haitian government official Klaus Eberwein, was found shot in the head in his hotel room. He had been called to testify by a Haitian government commission about funding after the 2010 earthquake, and may have talked about the Clinton Foundation’s controversial efforts there.

Eberwein’s death was officially ruled a suicide, but no ruling has been made on Smith’s.

Peter Smith

Over the past year, GOP operative Peter Smith, age 81, tried to obtain Hillary Clinton’s 30,000 emails she deleted off her personal server. Clinton claimed they were personal emails. Ten days after giving an interview to The Wall Street Journal about his efforts, hotel staff found Smith dead in a Minnesota hotel room. A bag covered his head, with a helium source attached. Law enforcement found a suicide note. It said he was in poor health and his life insurance policy was expiring soon. It also said there “was no foul play whatsoever,” with an apology to authorities.

One of Smith’s former employees toldThe Chicago Tribune she thought he was staying at the hotel while receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic for a heart condition. His room was in a block provided to Mayo patients. The day before he died, Smith told hotel staff he would check out the next day.

In his interview with the Journal, Smith said he’d found five groups of hackers that claimed to have Clinton’s emails. Two were Russian. Smith had a reputation for opposition research, including investigating Bill Clinton’s sexual escapades in the Troopergate scandal.

A friend of Smith’s, Charles Ortel, told The Daily Caller he did not believe Smith was suicidal.

Smith wrote two blog posts the day before he died. Both expressed his skepticism that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election.

Rochester police Chief Roger Peterson described the manner of death as “unusual.” The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy. The agency refused to provide the results to the Tribune.

Police found a Walmart receipt for “Helium Jumbo” purchased the previous day. However, they did not request video surveillance from Walmart to determine whether it was Smith who had made the purchase. Police observed “vinyl-covered exercise ankle or wrist weights” draped over the two helium tanks.

A friend of Smith’s, Charles Ortel, toldThe Daily Caller he did not believe Smith was suicidal. "This does not seem like a settled story. It made perfect sense to me he might have died of natural causes, but little chance he would have killed himself.” The Wall Street Journal reporter who interviewed Smith told CNN he appeared to be in fine health.

Ortel was also looking into Clinton corruption. "We had countless discussions," Ortel said. Smith helped him, using “his unique decades of experience in politics to offer me advice how to expose the Clinton Foundation."

Klaus Eberwein

Last week, Quality Inn hotel staff in Florida found the body of former Haitian government official Klaus Eberwein. He died of a gunshot wound to the head. Some believe he was expected to testify against the Clinton Foundation this week. According to WND, the 50-year-old former head of a Haitian government development agency told friends he was afraid for his life. The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a suicide.”

“In email exchanges with top Clinton Foundation officials, a senior aide to Mrs Clinton, who was then-secretary of state, kept an eye out for those identified by the abbreviations “FOB” (friends of Bill Clinton) or ‘WJC VIPs’ (William Jefferson Clinton VIPs).

“‘Need you to flag when people are friends of WJC,’ wrote Caitlin Klevorick, a senior State Department official who was vetting incoming offers of assistance coming through the Clinton Foundation.” –BBC

Eberwein was going to appear before the Haitian Senate Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. There is concern that funding meant to go to recovery efforts after the 2010 earthquake was diverted. The Miami Herald said the commission is looking into “the management of PetroCaribe funds, the money Haiti receives from Venezuela's discounted oil program.”

Eberwein served as director general of Fonds d'assistance economique et social, or FAES. He faced accusations of fraud. Lax FAES oversight resulted in poorly rebuilt schools after the earthquake. He has also been accused, like the Clintons, of fraudulently putting corrupt Haitian officials in office.

Funding also came from the Clinton Foundation. The Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti found that only .6 percent of donations raised by the Clintons went to Haitian groups. Haitians held several protests outside the Clintons’ offices over the earthquake funds.

 

 

Chelsea Clinton even became so concerned about the bungled Haiti relief effort that she sent her parents a sternly worded memo. She cc’d her parents’ top advisors at the Clinton Foundation. She said the settlement governments were upset at how little money was coming their way.

His friend Gilbert Bailly said, "It's really shocking.”

An article by Jonathan M. Katz in the left-leaning Slate criticized Bill Clinton’s actions in Haiti. “Bill Clinton in particular mixed personal relationships, business, and unaccountable power in ways that, if never exactly criminal, arouse the kind of suspicion that erodes public trust.” Katz also wrote, “There's a real case to be made against Hillary Clinton in Haiti.”

The Miami Herald said Eberwein had fallen on hard times. He was working as a Uber driver in southern Florida. However, the Haiti Libre newspaper said he was in a “good mood.” His friend Gilbert Bailly said, "It's really shocking. We grew up together; he was like family." Bailly said they planned to open a Muncheez restaurant together in Sunrise, Florida. Eberwein owned part of a popular pizza restaurant in Haiti called Muncheez.

 

Follow Rachel on Twitter at Rach_IC

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