Bill Clinton Monday defended former gatekeeper Doug Band in the wake of a searing report that detailed how the ambi♊tious aide used the former president’s nonprofit to build his own lucrative company.
“There’s nothing wrong with him starting a business with people he met workin’ for me,” Clinton insisted as he hit Manhattan to kick off the Clinton Global Initiative’s glittering, 🐽annual $20,000-a-head powwow of wealth, power and do-gooding.
“That’s the only way he could’ve met people. He came to work for me when he was 20 ౠyears old,” Clinton said of Band,♋ now 40.
Clinton spoke to “CBS This Morning” just hours after The New Republic released a profile that revealed Band to be a shameless schmoozer who first masterminded the CGI — and then turned the philanthropic behemoth into a hotbed of favor-tr🥀ading as he made pitches to big-bucks donors to also come on board his𒉰 start-up consulting firm, Teneo.
According to TNR, Clinton b❀ecame concerned when it got back to him that Band was exploiting his connections.
The CGI and the Clinton Foundation recently severed their ties w𒆙ith Band.
“I’m jus🌼t saying whatever happened, happened,” Clinton said.
“I wish him well. He came to me wi🦹th the idea for [the] CGI, he helped me start it, I’m very grateful for the role he played.”
As Clinton’s right-hand man, Band was “a gꦡatekeeper who cha𓂃rged tolls,” one insider told TNR, soliciting pledges from wealthy donors in return for access to Clinton.
Along the way, Band personally collected hundreds of thousands from top CGI donors — including supermarket mogul Ron Burkle — to sไupplement his $110,000-a-year salary and pay the mortgage on his sprawling $7 million-plus Central Park South home.
Relishing his role as Clinton’s go-to guy, Band flashed his black American Express card at Manhattan clubs and carried cash in rolls of $100 bills, according ওto the magazine report.
He insisted on staying in luxury hotels while on the road although “[Clinton] could stay in the Motel 6 — he doesn’t care, he’♉s from Arkansas!” a source told TNR.
Band’s caviar tastes made him a perfect target for Italian꧂ con man Rafaello Follieri, who would go on to make a $50 million pledge to ꦉthe CGI after Band introduced him to the Clintons.
The money was never paid, and Follieri was sent to the federal pen for o🐓rchestrating a massive reꦍal-estate fraud.