ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n
Submitted by Giuseppe Macri via InsideSources.com,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The Obama administration\u2019s revolving door with Google has been anything but subtle over the last eight years,<\/strong> and a new report from a government watchdog out this week shows the Silicon Valley giant hoped to extend that relationship to what many expected would be a Hillary Clinton presidency.<\/p>\n According to Campaign for Accountability, a non-profit government watchdog, that door was already growing in scope while Clinton headed the State Department under Obama. At least 57 people shared affiliations with Clinton and Google or related entities at the State Department, the Clinton Foundation and her presidential campaign.<\/strong><\/p>\n Those include Clinton campaign Chief Technology Officer Stephanie Hannon, Chief Product Officer Osi Imeokparia, Deputy CTO Derek Parham and Director of Digital Advertising Jason Rosenbaum, all of whom hailed from Google before joining the campaign.<\/p>\n Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet (the redubbed parent company of Google) who developed custom election monitoring software for the 2012 Obama campaign helped Clinton in a similar fashion. Schmidt funded Civis Analytics and The Groundwork, two data analytics and poll tracking firms that worked on her campaign.<\/p>\n Clinton and her super PAC Priorities USA spent almost $1.5 million on services from those companies.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHad she won the election, Clinton would have been significantly indebted to Google and Schmidt, whom she has referred to as her \u2018longtime friend,’\u201d the report reads<\/a>. \u201cFor comparison, Schmidt\u2019s future team at Civis Analytics was credited with helping produce his five million vote margin of victory during Obama\u2019s 2012 election, and Schmidt subsequently enjoyed extensive access at the Obama White House.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Personal emails hacked from campaign manager John Podesta show Schmidt personally met<\/strong><\/a> with Podesta and Clinton State Department aide Cheryl Mills in 2014, before the campaign was officially announced<\/strong>, and three months later Groundwork set up shop near Clinton headquarters in New York.<\/p>\n \u201c[H]e\u2019s ready to fund, advise, recruit talent, etc,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Podesta wrote<\/a> after meeting with Schmidt in Washington, D.C. in 2014. Schmidt would continue to meet consistently with Clinton advisers to advise its voter targeting effort and data management.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly wants to be head outside advisor,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Podesta added before suggesting a meeting between Schmidt and Clinton campaign strategist Robby Mook.<\/p>\n As with most of the tech industry, Google donated heavily to Clinton over Trump, but Google notably became Clinton\u2019s largest corporate contributor, according to the report, with at least\u00a0six high-ranking executives and other employees contributing more than $1.3 million to her campaign coffers. The next highest corporate contributor was Microsoft with over $700,000 and Apple, which had its own close relationship with Clinton<\/a> advisers per more Podesta emails, putting up more than $500,000,\u00a0according to<\/a> OpenSecrets.org.<\/p>\n \u201cHad Clinton won the election, Google would have been able to capitalize on a close working relationship stretching back to her tenure as U.S. Secretary of State,\u201d report authors wrote. \u201cState Department officials traveled to Silicon Valley for meetings at Google\u2019s headquarters attended by Schmidt<\/a>, where they brainstormed how new technologies could be used to address diplomatic, development, and security concerns.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n