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He's a real piece of work, just like his sister...
Hugh Rodham
Rodham tried his hand at hosting a syndicated talk radio show around 1996.<3><4> During 1995 through 1997 Rodham started working on a very large tobacco lawsuit with other attorneys; observers were puzzled as to Rodham's involvement, given his limited experience in the area, and speculated that influence peddling might be the reason.<5><2> The massive case eventually failed to gain Congressional approval.<9>
In 1999, Hugh and brother Tony Rodham entered into a $118 million venture to grow and export hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia.<9> The U.S. State Department and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger became upset, however, when the Rodhams' local business connection in Batumi turned out to be Aslan Abashidze, a major political opponent of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, then a key U.S. ally in the region.<11><9><17> After initial resistance,<11> Berger and the Clintons prevailed upon the Rodham brothers to drop the deal.<9><2> Hugh Rodham stated that he was only acting as a lawyer for the venture and did not have money invested in it.<11>
Episodes such as these led Hillary Clinton's White House staff to refer to Hugh and Tony as "the Brothers Rodham",<18> extending the American tradition of troublesome presidential siblings to the brother-in-law category;<11> one senior White House official would be quoted as saying, "You never wanted to hear their name come up in any context other than playing golf."<18>
As the Clinton administration came to a close in early 2001, it was discovered that Hugh Rodham received around $400,000 for legal services regarding gaining the Presidential pardon of fraudulent businessman Glenn Braswell and the sentence commutation of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali.<6> While legal experts said that Rodham may well not have done anything wrong, the appearance of possible impropriety certainly existed.<6> Moreoever, coming while the Bill Clinton pardons controversy was already in full force, this was a further embarrassment for the former administration and even got the attention of the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.<2> Hillary Clinton, now a newly-sworn-in Senator, said, "He's my brother. I love my brother ... I'm just extremely disappointed in this terrible misjudgment that he made ... I knew nothing about my brother's involvement in these pardons. I knew nothing about his taking money for his involvement."<2> Both Clintons pressured Rodham to return the $400,000, which he promptly did.<9> During this time, Rodham additionally collected media criticism for being overweight and a poor dresser.<9><17>
Subsequently, Hugh Rodham stayed out of the public eye. When his sister's 2008 presidential campaign came to the family summer home of Scranton, Pennsylvania for the state primary, he hosted a reception for campaign workers.<19>
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