GAME OF THORNS

Here is the first, insider, account of the precipitous fall of Hillary Clinton. How the scandals of a lifetime finally reached critical mass. How, in the last few days of the campaign, some on her staff saw the ghostly shroud of defeat creeping over them but were helpless to act, frozen by the self-denial of the group.

How did Hillary Clinton lose the election to Donald Trump? She had outspent him $581 million to $340. Her super PAC had outraised and outspent every other in American history. The New York Times placed her odds of winning at 91%. Their ground games couldn’t be compared. Hillary had 960,000 volunteers. Trump’s team had evaporated like snow on a sunny day. Her paid staff outnumbered his 5-1. She had 240 newspaper endorsements. He had 19. Almost every major American and multinational corporation and bank in the world had donated to the Clinton Foundation. $2 billion had been raised.

And yet, there were rumblings at the FBI. Some of their agents had been investigating the Clintons on multiple issues for 27 years. Even before the email scandals and the Clinton Foundation, agents had pursued them on more than one occasion and concluded that they were beyond the law. They were too powerful.

While national discussion centered on suggestions that Russia had influenced the American elections, the FBI knew of an unreported story of Chinese agents who were likely operating on behalf of the People’s Republic of China. They had been part of a scheme to help the Clintons in 1996, funneling money into their campaign. Now, in 2016, one of the principal players, who had fled to China years ago to evade the FBI, had suddenly reappeared on the streets of New York City, with suitcases full of money. A mysterious videotape emerged from another Chinese witness who had been coached by a retired FBI agent on what to say to assure his safety.

And Donald Trump was relentless. He just kept coming at you. The author, Doug Wead, met with him only days before the election. He was declaring unabashedly, “I’m going to win. Believe me. I’m going to win.”

No one did.


DOUGDoug Wead is a New York Times bestselling author who has written more than 30 books. He has served as an advisor to two American presidents and was a special assistant to the president in the George H.W. Bush White House.