Quid pro Peters

An old Bill Clinton White House hand has shown up in the WikiLeaks dump of Hillary Clinton campaign honcho John Podesta’s emails, singing the free-trade praises of La Jolla Democratic House member Scott Peters. “I hope you can join me later this month for a small dinner with Congressman Scott Peters, a good friend. The dinner will be held on Thursday, September 17th at 6:30 pm at Bistro Bis, in the Hotel George at 15 E Street NW,” says the September 2, 2015, $2700-a-plate fundraiser invitation from Nelson Cunningham, Clinton’s ex–special advisor to the president for Western Hemisphere affairs. He now works for McLarty Associates, a self-styled global business consulting firm formerly known as Kissinger-McLarty.

“Congressman Peters was one of only 28 House Democrats who voted for Trade Promotion Authority this summer, and he has been targeted by some of our fellow Democrats as a result. He deserves our strong support for his courageous vote.” Peters, the email notes, is “a member of the New Democrat Coalition and the No Labels Caucus. Because of San Diego’s location, he is deeply engaged in immigration and border and port infrastructure issues. You’ll find Scott engaging and engaged, and we hope to see you for dinner.”

McLarty Associates, run by Bill Clinton’s ex–White House chief of staff Mack McLarty, made news last month when Politico reported that another of the firm’s partners, former Reagan administration official Richard Burt, had a major role in drafting GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s first big foreign-policy speech this past spring while at the same time lobbying on behalf of New European Pipeline AG, run by Russian state-owned oil giant Gazprom, controlled in turn by Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin.

Said Politico, “The pipeline, opposed by the Polish government and the Obama administration, would complement the original Nord Stream, allowing more Russian gas to reach central and western European markets while bypassing Ukraine and Belarus, extending Putin’s leverage over Europe.” The McLarty firm got $365,000 for its work on behalf of the pipeline in the first two quarters of this year, Politico added.