Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this week said Ericsson paid former President Bill Clinton a speaking fee as part of an effort to protect its business in Iran from U.S. State Department sanctions. The situation Trump referenced has been in the news before, and, as before, Ericsson denied the accusations.
Ericsson did pay Bill Clinton $750,000 to speak in November 2011, at Ericsson’s first Networked Society Forum event in Hong Kong. The Swedish company said it considered many potential speakers and ultimately chose Clinton because it wanted a speaker who could attract “relevant key executives at our customers as well as representatives from academia, government and the industry.”
At a Monday rally in Ohio, Trump said Ericsson hired Bill Clinton to speak just a few months after “Hillary Clinton’s State Department began adding goods and services to a list that might be covered under expanded sanctions on Iran and other state sponsors of terrorism.” Trump noted that although Ericsson had previously been “under U.S. pressure for selling telecom equipment to several oppressive governments,” its equipment was not listed when sanctions were ultimately imposed in 2012.
Ericsson has supplied equipment and services to Mobile Communication Company of Iran and MTN Irancell, Iran’s two largest mobile operators. In late 2012, Ericsson said it was fulfilling the requirements of its existing contracts with these companies, but was not actively trying to extend the contracts. Humanitarian groups criticized Ericsson for supporting mobile networks they said were used by the Iranian government to track dissidents.
A news article explaining the use of Ericsson positioning equipment by the Iranian government appeared in late October 2011, just a few days before Clinton spoke at the Ericsson event. Clinton’s participation in the Ericsson event had already been arranged at that time.
“The situation regarding Iran had no impact on the decision to select President Clinton and was not considered by the project team [for the Networked Society Forum event],” Ericsson said in a statement. “The investment was significant but should be seen in light of President Clinton’s perceived crowd pull, the location (far to travel) and an engagement that spanned two days.”
Nonetheless, the Clinton speech for Ericsson is one of several the former president’s detractors say resulted in political favors. Borrowing the Ericsson story from a book called “Clinton Cash,” Trump explained it this way to his audience in Ohio:
“In 2009, Ericsson telecommunications came under U.S. pressure for selling telecom equipment to several oppressive governments – including Sudan, Syria and Iran. Some of these regimes used those technologies to monitor and control their own people.
“In June 2011, Hillary Clinton’s State Department began adding goods and services to a list that might be covered under expanded sanctions on Iran and other state sponsors of terrorism.
“During that time, Ericsson sponsored a speech by Bill Clinton, paying him $750,000 – his highest paying speech.
“In April 2012, the Obama administration issued an executive order imposing sanctions on telecom sales to Iran and Syria – but those sanctions did not cover Ericsson’s work in Iran.”
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Trump accuses Ericsson of paying Clintons for protection in Iran
