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	<title>US Policy &#8211; The Beacon</title>
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		<title>Failed Fannie Mae Lobbyist Orchestrated Biden’s Takeover of U.S. Policy on China</title>
		<link>https://blog.independent.org/2021/01/20/failed-fannie-mae-lobbyist-orchestrated-bidens-takeover-of-u-s-policy-on-china/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[K. Lloyd Billingsley]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Jan 2021 18:05:59 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[The Beacon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alvaro Vargas Llosa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foreign Affairs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Biden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lobbying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lobbyist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USA]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://blog.independent.org/?p=50599</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>In 1988, a lawyer named Thomas Donilon advised Sen. Joseph Biden’s presidential bid and then served as senior counsel on President Bill Clinton’s 1992 transition team. Donilon became Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and participated in the expansion of NATO and relations between the U.S. and China.  From 1995 to 2005, Donilon...<br /><a href="https://blog.independent.org/2021/01/20/failed-fannie-mae-lobbyist-orchestrated-bidens-takeover-of-u-s-policy-on-china/">Read More &#187;</a></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.independent.org/2021/01/20/failed-fannie-mae-lobbyist-orchestrated-bidens-takeover-of-u-s-policy-on-china/">Failed Fannie Mae Lobbyist Orchestrated Biden’s Takeover of U.S. Policy on China</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.independent.org">The Beacon</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 1988, a lawyer named Thomas Donilon </span><a href="http://www.allgov.com/officials/donilon-thomas?officialid=29281"><span style="font-weight: 400;">advised Sen. Joseph Biden’s</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> presidential bid and then served as senior counsel on President Bill Clinton’s 1992 transition team. Donilon became Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and participated in the expansion of NATO and relations between the U.S. and China. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">From 1995 to 2005, Donilon served as chief lobbyist of the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae. As </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/29/politics/biden-administration-cia-director-tom-donilon/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">CNN reported</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Donilon left the government-sponsored enterprise before it imploded and “</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">was forced to pay $400 million to the federal government for misstated earnings during his time there.” Donilon also attempted to</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> interfere with an audit by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and tried to launch a separate investigation into the OFHEO itself. </span><span id="more-50599"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2010, President Obama tapped Tom Donilon for National Security Advisor, which troubled </span><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/former-fannie-mae-lobbyist-tom-donilon-become-national-security-adviser/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Robert Scheer of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Nation</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why in the world would President Obama, whose legacy has been sabotaged by a housing crisis that Donilon helped create and conceal, have hired him to run the most sensitive position of public trust in his administration?” Donilon was a skilled political player, Scheer wrote, but as the president so often demonstrated, “it’s the top hustlers of whom he seems enamored.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a senator and vice president, Joe Biden was never known as a China expert, much less as a critic of the Communist regime’s record on human rights. Even so, as </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/biden-gets-china/250747/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Atlantic</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> reported</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in January, 2012, Tom Donilon “orchestrated” the move for Biden to “</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">take the lead on the administration’s next phase China policy.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a June, 2013, </span><a href="https://asiasociety.org/new-york/complete-transcript-thomas-donilon-asia-society-new-york"><span style="font-weight: 400;">speech to the Asia Society</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Donilon </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">disagreed with the position that “a rising power and an established power are somehow destined for conflict” and alluded to “potential competition” between the United States and China. So Donilon is the likely source for Joe Biden’s 2019 claim that the Chinese Communists are “not bad folks, folks” and “</span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-s-comments-downplaying-china-threat-u-s-fires-pols-n1001236"><span style="font-weight: 400;">not competition for us</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Last November, CNN reported that Tom Donilon was a “</span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/politics/biden-natsec-vacancies/index.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">leading contender</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">” for director of the CIA, a post the former Fannie Mae lobbyist has reportedly turned down. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">As </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-20/biden-adds-more-experienced-hands-to-white-house-senior-staff"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bloomberg reports</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Donilon’s wife Cathy Russell will be director of the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">White House Office of Presidential Personnel. According to the </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/us/politics/mike-donilon-biden.html"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">New York Times</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the “defender of the Biden brand” in the new administration will be senior advisor Mike Donilon, who happens to be Tom Donilon’s brother. </span></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.independent.org/2021/01/20/failed-fannie-mae-lobbyist-orchestrated-bidens-takeover-of-u-s-policy-on-china/">Failed Fannie Mae Lobbyist Orchestrated Biden’s Takeover of U.S. Policy on China</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.independent.org">The Beacon</a>.</p>
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