Obama's '08 campaign manager David Plouffe got $100K from Iranian affiliate

Obama's '08 campaign manager David Plouffe got $100K from Iranian affiliate.HT: IsraelMatzav.A senior adviser to President Obama, who was also his 2008 campaign manager, received a $100,000 speaking fee in 2010 from an affiliate of a company that does business with the government of Iran.

A subsidiary of MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company, paid [David] Plouffe for two speeches he made in Nigeria in December 2010, about a month before he joined the White House staff.

Since Plouffe’s speeches, MTN Group has come under intensified scrutiny from U.S. authorities because of its activities in Iran and Syria, which are under international sanctions intended to limit the countries’ access to sensitive technology. At the time of Plouffe’s speeches, MTN had been in a widely reported partnership for five years with a state-
owned Iranian telecommunications firm.

There were no legal or ethical restrictions on Plouffe being paid to speak to the MTN subsidiary as a private citizen. But for a close Obama aide to have accepted payment from a company involved in Iran could prove troublesome for the president as the White House toughens its stance toward the Islamic republic. In recent weeks, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has accused the administration of being soft on Iran.

The White House declined to make Plouffe available for an interview. Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, said Sunday that criticizing Plouffe would be unfair because MTN Group’s role in Iran was not a high-profile issue when he was invited to speak to the affiliate.

In other words, the White House is trying to argue that since this should have been below the radar screen, it was okay. This administration is reminding me more and more of the Clinton administration, which made legalistic arguments to avoid the spirit of US laws and regulations.
Plouffe is no minor official.

With a broad portfolio mixing politics and policy, Plouffe is a key member of Obama’s inner circle, a confidant whose desk is just steps from the Oval Office. There is no evidence that he has been involved in policy discussions about Iran sanctions, though he has spoken publicly about the need to restrain Iran’s nuclear program.Read the full story here.