Peter Schweizer

Peter Schweizer
Schweizer in 2016.
Born	Peter Franz Schweizer (1964-11-24) November 24, 1964 United States
Occupation	Author, political advisor
Education	Oxford University (M.Phil.) George Washington University (B.A.)
Genre	Politics
Notable works	Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy Clinton Cash
Website
peterschweizer.com

Peter Franz Schweizer (November 24, 1964) is an American novelist, author and political consultant. He is the president of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) and a former William J. Casey Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.^[1] He is also Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large.^[2] He wrote Clinton Cash, a 2015 book that discusses donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities, paid speeches made by Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the Clintons' income since they left the White House, in 2001. While in high school he attended the National Conservative Students Conference at George Washington University and was a member of Young Americans for Freedom. He was a YAF alumnus speaker at the 34th annual National Conservative Student Conference. He attended George Washington University and graduate school on YAF scholarships. He was on YAF staff starting 1993 and edited its magazine Libertas. He worked with Stephen Bannon on a documentary about former Hollywood movie star and president Ronald Reagan. He donated money to the campaigns of Republicans Ken Sukhia in 2016 and Adam Hasner in 2011.

Investigative projects

Schweizer's early work at Jeremiah Denton's National Forum Foundation (NFF) focused on the Cold War. He co-authored a National Review article with Denton's son, James (often cited as Jim), "Murdering SDI", about the suspicious deaths of several European officials who supported the Strategic Defense Initiative.^[3] While at the NFF, Schweizer also published a report titled "The Meaning and Destiny of the Sandinista Revolution".^[4]

In 2012, Steve Kroft used Schweizer's work as the basis for a report on CBS's 60 Minutes about Congressional insider trading. Titled "Insiders: The road to the STOCK act", Kroft relied heavily on Schweizer's reporting in Throw Them All Out, which CBS independently verified, to demonstrate how members of Congress trade stocks unethically.^[5] The book demonstrates how politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Spencer Bachus have inoculated themselves against criminal charges for insider trading.^[6] The following year, Kroft revisited Schweizer's work to create another 60 Minutes report on how members of Congress use the funds of their political action committees for private inurement.^[7]

A year later, Schweizer authored another GAI report about the Obama administration, which said that Obama failed to meet often enough with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius during the roll out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).^[8] He publicized the report with a story for Politico titled "When Barry Met Kathy: Almost never, it turns out."^[9] Schweizer's report relied on publicly available information about Obama's schedule. Three months later, after making FOIA requests of non-public documents, The Hill found evidence of multiple meetings which both scheduled to attend, including seven specifically about the ACA.They were scheduled but it is not known if any were attended to by both Sebelius or Obama.^[10]

Books

The 2004 film In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Words and Deed is based on Schweizer's book Reagan's War (2003);^[11] Schweizer is credited as Executive Producer.^[12]

In addition to his nonfiction writing, Schweizer has co-authored two novels with former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who was indicted after the Iran-Contra affair.

Schweizer contributed to Glenn Beck's book Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure.^[13]

In 2015, Schweizer authored an e-book, Bush Bucks: How Public Service and Corporations Helped Make Jeb Rich. The book raises questions about the millions of dollars former Florida Governor Jeb Bush earned after leaving office from companies that benefited from Bush's policy while he was serving as governor of Florida.^[14][15]

Clinton Cash

Cover of Clinton Cash (2015) by Peter Schweizer

In 2015, Harper Collins published Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, a 256-page book discussing the donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities.^[16] Several media outlets received advance copies, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News, all of whom agreed to pursue stories found in the book.^[16] Time wrote that "allegations are presented as questions rather than proof" but that "the book’s dark suggestions reflect the growing problem Clinton faces in her run for the White House in 2016 as more and more details of the foundation’s fundraising activities present the appearance of impropriety and lack of transparency during her time as Secretary of State."^[17]

Several weeks after the book's initial publication, Harper Collins and the author made several corrections to the Kindle edition of the book. Schweizer corrected "seven or eight" passages that were revealed to be inaccurate after the book was released.^[18]

In the wake of the book's publication, the Clinton Foundation admitted that it made mistakes in disclosing some of its contributions and that it implemented new rules increasing financial reporting and limiting foreign donations.^[19]

Activities

From 2008 to 2009, Schweizer served as a consultant to the Office of Presidential Speechwriting in the White House.^[20] In March 2009, Schweizer parlayed that experience into a new venture with fellow White House speechwriter Marc Thiessen. Together, Schweizer and Thiessen opened Oval Office Writers LLC. The firm specializes in preparation for congressional testimony as well as pitching opinion editorials and book proposals.^[21] As a political communications expert, Schweizer's notable clients have included Sarah Palin, and he advised her on foreign policy.^[22] Schweizer is a member of the Research Advisory Council of the James Madison Institute, a free-market think tank headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida.^[23]

Schweizer serves as Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Single Subject Amendment, a non-profit organization headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, which seeks to amend the United States Constitution to provide that every law enacted by Congress must address only one subject, which must be clearly expressed in the bill’s title.^[24]

Criticisms and Errors

Peter Schweizer admitted he overreached in attacking Hillary Clinton's purported role in approving a Russian uranium deal and falsely claimed that then-Secretary of State Clinton "had veto power" to stop the Russian State Atomic Nuclear Agency (Rosatom) from purchasing Uranium One. Schweizer has suggested Clinton approved the deal as a favor for Clinton Foundation donors.^[25]

Personal life

Schweizer lives in Tallahassee, Florida with his wife, Rhonda, and step-children.^[26][27] He and his first wife, Rochelle, co-authored books about Disney and the Bush family. They first met when she was working with the National Forum Foundation (NFF), which in 1997 merged with Freedom House.^[28][29] He attended Kentridge High School in Kent, Washington, completing his final year of high school at the newly constructed Kentwood High School in 1983. His older sister, Maria Schweizer Duffus, graduated from Kentridge High School in 1981.

Bibliography

• Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, 2015 (ISBN 978-0062369284)
• Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets, 2013 (ISBN 978-0544103344)
• Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison, 2011 (ISBN 978-0547573144)
• Architects of Ruin: How a Gang of Radical Activists and Liberal Politicians Destroyed Trillions of Dollars in Wealth in the Pursuit of Social Justice, 2009 (ISBN 0-061-95334-2)
• Makers and Takers: Why conservatives work harder, feel happier, have closer families, take fewer drugs, give more generously, value honesty more, are less materialistic and envious, whine less … and even hug their children more than liberals, 2008 (ISBN 0-385-51350-X)
• Chain of Command, with Caspar Weinberger, 2006 (ISBN 0-74343-774-8)
• Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, 2005 (ISBN 0-385-51349-6)
• The Bushes: portrait of a dynasty, 2004, co-authored with Rochelle Schweizer (ISBN 0-385-49863-2)
• Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism, 2002 (ISBN 0-385-50471-3)
• Disney: The Mouse Betrayed: Greed, Corruption and Children at Risk, 1998 (ISBN 0-89526-387-4)
• The Next War, with Caspar Weinberger, 1998 (ISBN 0-89526-447-1)
• Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1994 (ISBN 0-87113-567-1)
• Friendly Spies: How America's Allies Are Using Economic Espionage to Steal Our Secrets, 1992 (ISBN 0-87113-497-7)
• Grinning with the Gipper: Wit, Wisdom and Wisecracks of Ronald Reagan, 1988 (ISBN 0-87113-272-9)

References

External links

• Official website for In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Words and Deed.
• Schweizer's report about the President's Daily Briefing (pdf).
• Schweizer's report about President Obama's meetings with Secretary Sebelius, based on publicly available information at the time (pdf).
• Official website
• Profile at the James Madison Institute
• Schweizer's Bio at Oval Office Writers LLC
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Peter Schweizer at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Peter Schweizer in libraries (WorldCat catalog)