How did former Google CEO Eric Schmidt wind up playing kingmaker at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy?
Schmidt’s long been cozy with top Democrats, but Politico uncovered his interference, via a charity cutout, at an agency that should have a critical distance from his interests.
Schmidt’s nonprofit, Schmidt Futures, indirectly helped pay the salaries of two senior OSTP staffers; one of them, Marc Aidinoff, is the office’s current chief of staff. Schmidt also has long ties to Eric Lander, the OSTP head who resigned in February over demeaning and disrespecting subordinates.
The Google veteran sits on the boards of or holds stakes in multiple companies that operate in artificial intelligence, 5G communications and other areas of core OSTP concern. Schmidt was indirectly paying people to shape policy that benefited . . . himself.
Of course, Schmidt and Google were also cozy with the Obama administration, with Googlers attending White House meetings constantly from 2009 to 2015. The tech exec also served on the Defense Innovation Board, where (per a 2016 ethics complaint) he allegedly tried to drum up business for Google cloud-computing services.
But the Team Biden links go deeper. Schmidt Futures is a one-time client of West Exec, the consulting firm co-founded by Secretary of State Antony Blinken (and which employed Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines). Schmidt himself also helped launch and joined the board of Rebellion Defense, a young AI-focused company that has gotten 10 contracts under the Biden administration.
What do the Democrats get out of it? Not just campaign donations, but the likelihood that Google’s algorithm will suppress news that hurts the election chances of Democrats.
The Biden administration loves to lambaste corporate America as a greedy cabal of price-fixers, but its actions tell a different tale. No wonder trust in government is at historic lows.