Tony Blinken ‘Cashed In’ on His Experience Under President Obama, Raises Serious Ethical Concerns for the Biden Admin

Following his time in the Obama Administration, Tony Blinken co-founded a corporate consulting firm called WestExec where he and other Obama-era officials raked in a salary without having to disclose details about their business dealings.

“Blinken launched WestExec Advisors with fellow Obama national-security chiefs in 2018. WestExec’s very name—a reference to the avenue that runs along the White House—suggested that its founders were trading off of their recent experience in the Oval Office and were angling for positions in the next administration.” – The American Prospect

“But little is known about WestExec’s client list. Because its staffers aren’t lobbyists, they are not required to disclose who they work for. They also aren’t bound by the Biden transition’s restrictions on hiring people who have lobbied in the past year.” – Politico

“Like many others now staffing Biden, they built résumés during the Trump years that abound with the kind of financial connections that typically set off alarm bells: managing the money of Persian Gulf states’ sovereign wealth funds, drafting legal and regulatory battle plans for Silicon Valley giants, or helping American companies conduct business overseas.” – The Washington Post

Blinken also became a partner in a private equity firm called Pine Island Capital Partners, which touts its “access” and “network” within the government.

“Just days after the presidential election, a new investment firm called Pine Island Acquisition Corporation quietly began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, with the prospect of becoming a notable player in the $2 trillion defense and aerospace industry. The company’s greatest asset was not its relatively modest bankroll goal of $200 million, but its connections — deep ties to policy establishment figures shaping the incoming Biden administration.” – New York Post

“Among that firm’s partners are Michèle Flournoy and Antony Blinken, two of the president-elect’s top foreign-policy advisers…Gen. Lloyd Austin, Biden’s nominee for defense secretary, is also listed as one of the firm’s ‘DC Partners.’” – New York Post

“Blinken’s role as a partner with Pine Island was to capitalize on his ‘influential networks’ and work in tandem with the firm’s investment professionals to ‘source deals, conduct analyses, win bids, close transactions, and directly advise the companies’ it invests in, according to the company’s website.” – Daily Caller

Needless to say, Tony Blinken’s corporate associations are raising some serious red flags — so much so that the Biden campaign felt it was necessary to leave Blinken’s recent work history out of his bio.

“And when those officials cycle back into government positions, as Democrats affiliated with WestExec and Pine Island are now, they bring with them questions about whether they might favor or give special access to the companies they had worked with in the private sector.” – The New York Times

“And the private-sector baggage they bring now threatens to undermine Biden’s promise to ‘restore ethics in government.’” – The Washington Post

“Blinken’s biography on Biden’s transition website does not mention his involvement with WestExec, nor does it mention Blinken’s work with the private equity firm Pine Island Capital Partners, which was also founded in 2018.” – Daily Caller