Chelsea Clinton told Variety there is no truth to rumors that she is mulling a political bid: “I am not running for public office.”
Said Clinton: “I am really constantly surprised by the stories of me running for, fill-in-the-blank: Congress, Senate, City Council, the presidency. I really find this all rather hysterical, because I’ve been asked this question a lot throughout my life, and the answer has never changed.”
“When rumors started swirling after the election that Chelsea Clinton was considering her own foray into politics, it was met with eye rolls even from staunch supporters of the family,” The Hill reports.
“But that skepticism is starting to fade… Clinton has only stoked the rumors further, particularly on Twitter, where she has repeatedly gone after President Trump and his associates since Inauguration Day.”
“What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators?”
— Chelsea Clinton, on Twitter.
“While some pundits are declaring the Clinton political dynasty dead, sources tell us that it is far from over. Chelsea Clinton is being groomed for the New York seat held by Rep. Nita Lowey,” the New York Post reports.
“Chelsea could run for the seat in NYC’s 17th Congressional District once Lowey, a 79-year-old respected career politician with nearly 30 years in office, decides to retire, we have exclusively learned.”
“The Clinton Foundation is considering exceptions to its plan to stop accepting corporate and foreign donations and reduce family involvement as a way to insulate Hillary Clinton from potential conflicts of interest if elected president,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“As recently as this summer, the foundation was discussing with some allies plans for Chelsea Clinton to leave the board, along with former President Bill Clinton, if Mrs. Clinton should win. But on Wednesday, foundation spokesman Craig Minassian said Chelsea Clinton plans to stay on the board. Mr. Clinton told donors he still plans to leave.”
Politico: Ethicists scoff at Clinton Foundation transition plan
Chelsea Clinton said that she would prefer Bill Clinton be known as the “first gentleman” if Hillary Clinton wins the election but her father has his own ideas, Politico reports.
Said Chelsea: “He likes to harken back to his kind of Irish roots, he’d love to be called first laddie.”
Jack Shafer: “But at some point—early adulthood—the general immunity from critical coverage needs to end. The threshold for newsworthiness recedes, and the children of presidents become more like the siblings, cousins, uncles and parents of presidents. In other words, if one of President Obama’s daughters got busted for drunk driving, few would expect saturation coverage from the press. But, say, had Obama’s Boston aunt gotten arrested for drunk driving before she died in 2014, there would have been no reason for the press to turn a blind eye. Chelsea Clinton should be treated no more royally than the Nixon daughters, Susan Ford, Amy Carter, the Gore children, or the Bush and Reagan progeny.”
“I don’t remember a time when people weren’t attacking my parents. So in some ways, I think as I grew up I developed a thick skin.”
— Chelsea Clinton, quoted by Politico.
The Washington Post reports Chelsea Clinton was paid $65,000 for a speech at the University of Missouri after officials balked at her month’s $275,000 fee.
“More than 500 pages of e-mails, contracts and other internal documents obtained by The Washington Post from the university under Missouri public record laws detail the school’s long courtship of the Clintons. They also show the meticulous efforts by Chelsea Clinton’s image-makers to exert tight control over the visit, ranging from close editing of marketing materials and the introductory remarks of a high school student to limits on the amount of time she spent on campus.”
Chelsea Clinton has a book deal for It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!, the AP reports.
The book, which will come out in the fall, aims to “inform and inspire” young people to “change the world” and will cover a range of issues from poverty to gender equality.