Clinton Hillary Rodham - Unlikeable : the problem with Hillary

UNLIKEABLE

Copyright 2015 by Edward Klein

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First e-book edition 2015: ISBN 978-1-62157-437-8

Originally published in hardcover, 2015

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ALSO BY EDWARD KLEIN

NONFICTION

All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy

Just Jackie: Her Private Years

The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted Americas First Family for 150 Years

Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days

The Truth about Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far Shell Go to Become President

Katie: The Real Story

Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died

The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House

Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas

NOVELS

If Israel Lost the War

(With Robert Littell and Richard Z. Chesnoff)

The Parachutists

The Obama Identity

(With John LeBoutillier)

ANTHOLOGIES

About Men

(With Don Erickson)

In memory of Richard Chesnoff, dear friend, and Robert Christopher, mentor

CONTENTS

Ive worked for four presidents and watched two others up close, and I know that theres no such thing as a routine day in the Oval Office.

Former vice president Dick Cheney

H illary sent word to the White House that she wanted to speak with Barack Obama.

Alone.

Just the two of them in the Oval Office. Without the intrusion of Valerie Jarrett, the presidents consigliere and chief political strategist, or Michelle Obama, who frequently meddled in such Oval Office meetings.

Hillary didnt like or trust Jarrett and Michelle, and she knew that the feeling was mutual.

And so Hillary stipulated that she be allowed to see the president privately.

According to people who spoke directly with Hillary about the proposed meeting, she believed that Jarrett was behind the recent spate of damaging press leaks about foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation, Hillarys use of a private e-mail account, and her back-channel e-mail exchanges with Sidney Blumenthal.

When she discussed the matter with Bill Clinton, he opposed the meeting with Obama. He told her that it would accomplish nothing, and that Obama couldnt intervene to help her even if he wanted to, and he clearly didnt want to.

He has a visceral dislike of me, and only a slightly less dislike of you, Bill said, according to sources close to Hillary who were interviewed for this book.

The Clintons then had one of their usual knock-down, drag-out shouting matches, and, as so often had happened in the past, when it was over Hillary chose to ignore Bills advice.

She waited anxiously for word about the meeting from the White House.

According to an entirely different set of sourcesin this case, people who spoke directly to Valerie JarrettObama dreaded the prospect of being alone with Hillary.

Obama had had it with Hillary, these sources said. As far as he was concerned, Hillary had ignored his explicit warnings about her use of a private e-mail account, had breached a written agreement regarding foreign donations to the foundation, and had allowed the detested Blumenthal to poke his nose into State Department business.

Insulted and outraged, Obama had given Jarrett the green light to leak stories to the press about Hillarys crimes and misdemeanors. And Jarrett had gladly embraced her role as leaker in chief. Her explicit intention was to sabotage Hillarys chances of winning the Democratic Partys presidential nomination.

Obama had no doubt that Hillary wanted to confront him about these matters. He told Jarrett and Michelle that he was tired of listening to Hillary vent. The White House had allowed that to happen far too many times over the past several months. He didnt want to put himself through that ordeal again.

His answer to Hillarys request was a flat No.

There would be no meeting.

Eventually, however, Jarrett persuaded Obama to grant Hillary an audience.

One way or another, you cant dodge her and you cant stall, she told him, according to the sources. And theres nothing she can say that will change anything.

And so, bitterly and reluctantly, Obama agreed to meet with Hillary.

But only on one condition.

He wanted Jarrett with him in the Oval Office as a buffer when Hillary arrived.

Unlike most people who were about to meet with the president of the United States, Hillary wasnt the least bit intimidated by the aura of the man or his office. She had lived in the White House for eight years, had been in the Oval Office hundreds of times, was married to a president, and knew that he put his pants on one leg at a time just like every other man.

Jarrett, on the other hand, was used to people who acted obsequiously when they arrived to meet with the president, and she found Hillarys attitude to be imperious and condescending. In a bit of gamesmanship, she purposely kept Hillary waiting for more than a half hour.

At first, Hillary pretended not to care that she was kept waiting, said a source who later spoke to Jarrett. But when Hillary was ushered into the Oval Office, she was shocked to find Valerie standing next to the president, who was sitting behind his big oak desk.

What can I do for you, Hillary? Obama said.

He did not get up to greet her.

Hillary tried a friendly approach. She asked Obama for his advice on how to handle her troubles.

She didnt think she had done anything wrong, she said. She was being persecuted for minor, meaningless violations.

Obama acted as though he didnt know what she was talking about.

He was almost being deliberately dense, said a Clinton source who spoke with Hillary shortly after the meeting and was later interviewed for this book. It really angered her.

Everyone, including the president, knew that Hillary had a self-righteous side and a ferocious temper. She told friends that her father had been volcanic and that she, unfortunately, had inherited the trait.

Now, she lost the struggle to contain her composure.