While in high school he attended the National Conservative Students Conference at George Washington University and was a member of Young Americans for Freedom. He was a YAF alumnus speaker at the 34th annual National Conservative Student Conference. He attended George Washington University and graduate school on YAF scholarships. He was on YAF staff starting 1993 and edited its magazine Libertas.
Investigative projects
Schweizer's early work at Senator Jeremiah Denton's National Forum Foundation focused on the Cold War. He co-authored a National Review article with Denton's son, James, "Murdering SDI", about the suspicious deaths of several European officials who supported the Strategic Defense Initiative. While at the NFF, Schweizer also published a report titled "The Meaning and Destiny of the Sandinista Revolution". In 2012, journalistSteve Kroft used Schweizer's work as the basis for a report on CBS's 60 Minutes about Congressional insider trading. Titled "Insiders: The road to the STOCK act", Kroft relied heavily on Schweizer's reporting in his 2011 book Throw Them All Out, which CBS independently verified, to demonstrate how members of Congress trade stocks unethically. The book demonstrates how politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Spencer Bachus have inoculated themselves against criminal charges for insider trading. The following year, Kroft revisited Schweizer's work to create another 60 Minutes report on how members of Congress use the funds of their political action committees for private inurement. A year later, Schweizer authored another GAI report about the Obama administration, which said that Obama failed to meet often enough with Secretary of Health and Human ServicesKathleen Sebelius during the roll out of the Affordable Care Act. He publicized the report with a story for Politico titled "When Barry Met Kathy: Almost never, it turns out." Schweizer's report relied on publicly available information about Obama's schedule. Three months later, after making FOIA requests of non-public documents, The Hill found evidence of multiple meetings which both scheduled to attend, including seven specifically about the ACA.They were scheduled but it is not known if any were attended to by both Sebelius or Obama.
Books and films
He worked with Steve Bannon on the 2004 documentary about former Hollywood movie star and president Ronald ReaganIn the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Words and Deed which is based on Schweizer's book Reagan's War ; Schweizer is credited as Executive Producer.. In addition to his nonfiction writing, Schweizer has co-authored two novels with former Secretary of DefenseCaspar Weinberger. Schweizer contributed to Glenn Beck's book . Schweizer also is credited as a writer and producer in The Creepy Line, a documentary which included the likes of Robert Epstein and Jordan Peterson.
''Clinton Cash''
In 2015, Harper Collins published Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, a 256-page book discussing the donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities. Several media outlets received advance copies, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News, all of whom agreed to pursue stories found in the book. Time wrote that "allegations are presented as questions rather than proof" but that "the book's dark suggestions reflect the growing problem Clinton faces in her run for the White House in 2016 as more and more details of the foundation's fundraising activities present the appearance of impropriety and lack of transparency during her time as Secretary of State." The book was found to contain several factual errors, including that then-Secretary of State Clinton had veto power to stop the sale of Uranium One to a Russian state-owned company. Several journalists have criticized the book as containing "leaps of logic,""draws some conclusions that go beyond the available evidence," "arts of Schweitzer's reporting fell apart under scrutiny," and "Schweizer is trafficking in speculation." Several weeks after the book's initial publication, Harper Collins and the author made several corrections to the Kindle edition of the book. Schweizer corrected "seven or eight" passages that were revealed to be inaccurate after the book was released. In the wake of the book's publication, the Clinton Foundation admitted that it made mistakes in disclosing some of its contributions and that it implemented new rules increasing financial reporting and limiting foreign donations. The book was funded by the Mercer Family Foundation with a $1.7 million contribution in 2015 to the Government Accountability Institute whose researchers Schweizer used.
''Secret Empires''
In 2018, Harper Collins published Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends. Secret Empires provided details about the overseas business conducted by Hunter Biden, particularly in his employment with entities such as Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. The book also describes ties between Elaine Chao's family businessForemost Group and China, although these claims were denied by Chao husband Mitch McConnell's spokesman David Popp. The Daily Beast reported that the book contained fourteen examples of plagiarism, including from Wikipedia. The passages in question contained similar wording to those of several Wikipedia articles, particularly the articles on Patrick R. Daley, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Tom Steyer, and Jared Kushner. In addition to the Wikipedia articles, other passages, while citing news articles properly, contained similar wording to the cited sources.
Activities
During 2008 and 2009, Schweizer served as a consultant to the Office of Presidential Speechwriting in the White House. In March 2009, Schweizer parlayed that experience into a new venture with fellow White House speechwriter Marc Thiessen. Together, Schweizer and Thiessen opened Oval Office Writers LLC. The firm specializes in preparation for congressional testimony as well as pitching opinion editorials and book proposals. As a political communications expert, Schweizer's notable clients have included Sarah Palin, and he advised her on foreign policy. Schweizer is a member of the Research Advisory Council of the James Madison Institute, a free-market think tank headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida. Schweizer serves as Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Single Subject Amendment, a non-profit organization headquartered in Tallahassee, which seeks to amend the United States Constitution to provide that every law enacted by Congress must address only one subject, which must be clearly expressed in the bill's title. He donated money to the campaigns of Republicans Adam Hasner in 2011 and Ken Sukhia in 2016.
Criticisms and errors
Schweizer has been criticized for incorrect reporting and conclusions not supported by facts, including in his second book Friendly Spies. Two Sunday Times reporters trying to follow-up on his reporting discovered that meetings described by Schweizer did not check out, that named sources did not exist or could not be found, and that there was no Paris Sheraton Hotel during the time period when the meetings allegedly took place. Schweizer admitted he overreached in attacking Hillary Clinton's purported role in approving a Russian uranium deal and falsely claimed that then-Secretary of State Clinton "had veto power" to stop the Russian State Atomic Nuclear Agency from purchasing Uranium One. During a May 5, 2015, Politico podcast interview, Schweizer admitted that "veto is probably not the best word" and "what I meant by veto power was as we explain the process, you know, if somebody objects it kicks in the special investigation." In a 2015 NBC interview Schweizer said that Hillary Clinton did not support a nuclear deal with India in 2006 and that she voted for it in 2008, after donations to the Clinton Foundation. PolitiFact rated Schweizer's claim "False".
Personal life
Schweizer lives in Tallahassee, Florida with his wife, Rhonda, and step-children. He and his first wife, Rochelle Schweizer, co-authored books about Disney and the Bush family. They met when she was working with the National Forum Foundation, which in 1997 merged with Freedom House. Schweizer graduated from Kentridge High School in Kent, Washington in 1983.
