Serial Misinformer Peter Schweizer Is Releasing A New Anti-Clinton Book

Peter Schweizer's Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich To Be Released May 5. On May 5, HarperCollins Publishers will release Clinton Cash, which the publisher described as “Meticulously researched and scrupulously sourced, filled with headline-making revelations, Clinton Cash raises serious questions of judgment, of possible indebtedness to an array of foreign interests, and ultimately, of fitness for high public office.” [HarperCollins.com, accessed 4/9/15]

Book Publisher HarperCollins Is Owned By Fox News' Sister Company. HarperCollins is owned by NewsCorp, which is headed by Rupert Murdoch and is the sister company of Fox News' parent company 21st Century Fox. [NewsCorp.com, accessed 4/20/15]

NY Times: Fox Reportedly Has “Exclusive Agreement With The Author” To Report On The Book. According to The New York Times, Fox is one of several outlets with “exclusive agreements with the author to pursue the story lines found in the book.” [New York Times, 4/19/15]

Fox News Heaps Praise On Clinton Cash Ahead Of Publication

Fox's Steve Doocy: Clinton Cash Is “Very Damning” And Full of “Cold Hard Facts” About Hillary Clinton. In an April 20 segment on Peter Schweizer's upcoming book Clinton Cash on Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy claimed that the book was “very damning” to the Clintons. Doocy went on to assert that the book was full of “cold hard facts,” and discounted criticism of the author. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/20/15]

Fox's Elisabeth Hasselbeck: Clinton Cash Shows Clinton's “Most Formidable Opponent May Be Herself.” During an April 20 interview with Donald Trump on Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck claimed that Clinton Cash was proof that Hillary Clinton's “most formidable opponent may be herself.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/20/15]

Fox's Bret Baier: “There Will Be A Reverberation From This Book.” In yet another segment on Clinton Cash during the April 20 edition of Fox & Friends, the hosts continued to predict the book would have a major impact on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Fox anchor Bret Baier claimed that “there will be a reverberation” from the book as media outlets pick up its claims. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/20/15]

Fox's Ed Henry: Clinton Cash “Bombshell” Will “Become Potentially, A Central Focus” Of Campaign For 2016. On the April 20 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, anchor Bill Hemmer introduced the book by saying “it is being called a Hillary Clinton bombshell.” Fox White House correspondent Ed Henry suggested that the new book could “become, potentially, a central focus” of the presidential campaign for 2016 and agreed it could be a “bombshell.” He went on to assert that this could be a “scandal primary” for Clinton, suggesting that the book could “be more damaging to her than any of the other Democratic rivals who are out here right now.” [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 4/20/15]

Fox's Bill Hemmer: Clinton Book “Could Threaten Her Campaign.” In an additional segment on America's Newsroom, Hemmer claimed that the “explosive” Clinton Cash “could threaten” Hillary Clinton's campaign. Network contributor Katie Pavlich claimed that “politicians have gone to prison for much less,” praising Schweizer as a “very credible investigative reporter” and asserting the book would cause “a lot of trouble” for the campaign. [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 4/20/15]

Schweizer Is A GOP Activist With A History Of Shoddy Reporting

Schweizer Worked For The Bush White House As A Speechwriting Consultant From 2008-2009.[PeterSchweizer.com, accessed 3/26/15]

Sarah Palin Hired Schweizer To Advise Her On Foreign Policy. Schweizer received $106,250 from Palin's Sarah PAC in 2011-2012, according to Federal Election Commission records. [New York Times, 5/25/11; FEC.gov, accessed 3/27/15]

Schweizer Helped Write Bobby Jindal's Autobiography. Jindal wrote on the acknowledgements page of his 2010 book that Schweizer was “crucial to this book.” Jindal is a potential Clinton opponent as he is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination. [Times-Picayune, 2/17/10; Leadership and Crisis, 2010; Politico, 3/24/15]

Media Matters Analysis Finds 10 Incidents Of Significant Errors, Retractions, Or Questionable Sourcing By Schweizer. Reporters and fact checkers have excoriated Schweizer for massive factual problems over the years. A Media Matters analysis found at least 10 separate incidents in which the media called out Schweizer for botching his reporting.

The following is how reporters have described Schweizer's work: “Incorrect,” “inaccurate,” “bogus,” “a fatal shortcoming in Journalism 101,” “the facts didn't stand up,” “unfair and inaccurate,” “specious argument,” “there was nothing there,” “suspicious,” “the facts don't fit,” facts “do not check out,” sources “do not exist or cannot be tracked down,” “confusion and contradiction,” “discrepancies,” “admitted a mistake,” “neither journalism nor history,” “a polemic so unchecked ... that we can't tell the fact from the fiction,” sources “have clearly used him,” and “tacitly conced[ed] he was wrong.” [Media Matters, 4/20/2015]

Washington Post's Wemple: Schweizer Story On Obama-Sebelius Bore “A Fatal Shortcoming In Journalism 101.” In one example from the Media Matters analysis of past criticism of Schweizer, Post opinion writer Erik Wemple wrote that a story by Schweizer falsely claiming that President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius met just once in three years “bears a fatal shortcoming in Journalism 101. Judging from the text, Schweizer never approached the White House or HHS for comment on his research. The White House confirms that it was never asked about it, and HHS declined to comment.” [Washington Post, 12/9/13]

FactCheck.org: Schweizer's Reporting Suffers From Numerous “Problems.” A February 2012 FactCheck.org article also heavily criticized Schweizer's reporting on a Department of Energy loan program, writing that his data had numerous “problems” and explaining that he couldn't back up his assertions when asked. [FactCheck.org, 2/9/12]

LA Times Review: Schweizer Book “Neither Journalism Nor History.” The late veteran journalist Jonathan Kwitny documented numerous problems with Schweizer's book Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union in a 1994 Los Angeles Times review. Kwitny, who worked for PBS and The Wall Street Journal, wrote that Schweizer practiced “neither journalism nor history” and argued “he evidently doesn't believe in picking up a phone to check” his sources' assertions. [Los Angeles Times, 6/12/94; New York Times, 11/28/98]