President Obama's best friend Marty Nesbitt will be hosting Hillary Clinton for a fundraiser Thursday, further signaling that the president is throwing his support behind Clinton in the still-contested Democratic primary battle.
Nesbitt, who was chosen by Obama to run the Barack Obama Foundation, will be co-hosting the fundraiser with others in Obama's Chicago inner circle, including Frank Clark, Les Coney, and Desirée Rogers, a longtime friend of Obama who held the role of White House social secretary during his first year in office. Co-hosts for the event were required to raise at least $10,000 for the event.
The overt support from Obama's closest allies seems to further verify charges made by Clinton's Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders that he is facing an unfair nomination process because party leaders have already committed to supporting Clinton.
The New York Times reported last month that Obama had privately been telling donors that it was time to start backing Clinton. Nesbitt made his first contribution of $2,700 in February and contributed another $2,700 in March.
If Nesbitt was throwing his financial weight behind Clinton, Obama likely was one of the first people to know about it.
Nesbitt is referred to in the White House as "FOB #1" (Friend of Barack #1) and has said that he talks to the president so much that he couldn't even remember when Obama asked him to run the foundation. Obama is the godfather of Nesbitt's son and Nesbitt's wife delivered both of the Obamas' daughters, but Nesbitt is more than just a friend to Obama.
He has been at the center of Obama's fundraising apparatus since the beginning of his political career, serving as finance chairman for Obama's unsuccessful 2000 run for Congress and as treasurer for both of Obama's presidential campaigns. He had already raised $7.8 million for the foundation at the beginning of the year.
Nesbitt will fit in well among other Clinton fundraisers—he is CEO of Vistria Group, a private equity group he founded with other veterans of the Obama administration. The fund's investment strategy is to acquire "companies that are highly regulated," according to Nesbitt, in hopes that he "can help CEOs and their management teams navigate in these highly regulated situations."
One of those industries is for-profit education. This year Vistria acquired the Apollo Education Group, the company that runs University of Phoenix, which has been targeted by the federal government for its predatory recruitment tactics of military veterans.
Nesbitt's purchase of University of Phoenix was criticized by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D.), who complained that "the largest for-profit college chain in America is essentially going dark" by being purchased by a private equity firm. "We'll know less than ever about the operations of one of the most heavily subsidized universities in America," Durbin said.
Clinton has also spoken out against the for-profit education industry, although the Apollo Group and others in the for-profit arena have contributed heavily to the Clinton Foundation.
Co-hosting the event along with Nesbitt will be Frank Clark and Les Coney, who consider themselves to be personal friends of Obama and each bundled hundreds of thousands of dollars for his presidential campaigns.
Clark was a lobbyist for energy utility Exelon when then-Illinois state senator Obama befriended him, according to the New York Times. Clark would later become an adviser for Obama's 2008 campaign. He also bundled up to $500,000 for Obama's 2008 campaign and up to $200,000 for Obama in 2012.
The friendship also created a tight relationship between Exelon and the Obama administration.
Exelon was given a huge contract to outfit federal buildings with solar panels to satisfy an Obama executive order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from government agencies. The contract raised eyebrows because Exelon employees have regularly been some of Obama's largest campaign donors stretching back to his 2006 run for Senate.
Exelon refers to itself as "the president's utility."
Coney, who refers to himself as "a personal friend" of Obama, raised more than a million dollars for his two presidential campaigns. He also works in Chicago's private equity industry.
Desirée Rogers was so close with the Obamas in Chicago that they brought her to Washington, D.C., with them to serve as the White House social secretary.
Rogers was given the position as a thank-you for the $600,000 she brought in for the 2008 campaign, but it did not work out as planned.
Rogers was quickly criticized by David Axelrod for posing in the White House garden wearing a $3,495 Oscar de la Renta silk dress and $110,000 diamond earrings for a magazine photo shoot.
She was then blamed for the incident in which socialites Michaele and Tareq Salahi easily crashed a White House State Dinner. The White House "clamped down" on her public profile, ordering her to stop wearing fancy clothes and to stop showing up to events.
She was eventually forced to resign, but despite all the missteps was praised by Obama.
"We are enormously grateful to Desirée Rogers for the terrific job she's done as the White House social secretary," said Obama. "We thank her again for her service and wish her all the best in her future endeavors."
Hillary Clinton was notified of the resignation by her top aide Huma Abedin.
