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Peter Schweizer 11:14 a.m. EDT May 17, 2015

George Stephanopoulos.(Photo: Heidi Gutman, ABC)

Fact-driven, fair, aggressive journalism animates American politics. As an investigative journalist, I am accustomed to asking tough questions. When I publish, I expect tough questions in turn,

That's not what ABC News This Week host and chief anchor George Stephanopoulos delivered when he interviewed me about my new book on the Clinton Foundation last month. There's a reason. Though Stephanopoulos belatedly disclosed$75,000 in donations to the foundation, he has yet to disclose his much deeper relationship with the Clinton Foundation.

When Stephanopoulos invited me on his Sunday program, I knew that he had worked as a top adviser and campaign manager to President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, but I didn't know about his donations or his other ties to the foundation founded and overseen by the former president and his wife, potential future president Hillary Clinton.

USA TODAY

Wolff: Stephanopoulos donation furor overdone

I agreed to be interviewed, expecting a robust examination of my new book, Clinton Cash, and my reporting on the Clintons' accumulation of massive personal wealth, cronyism and the lack of transparency surrounding the Clintons' foundation.

I expected probing questions, similar to the ones I've received from Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Chris Wallace on Fox News and Frank Sesno on CNN.

What I did not expect what no one expected was the sort of "hidden hand journalism" that has contributed to America's news media's crisis of credibility in particular, and Americans' distrust of the news media more broadly.

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Stephanopoulos, ABC have not fully disclosed Clinton ties ...

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured here on Tuesday, March 3, has become one of the most powerful people in Washington. Here's a look at her life and career through the years.

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Before she married Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here, Rodham talks about student protests in 1969, which she supported in her commencement speech at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

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Rodham, center, a lawyer for the Rodino Committee, and John Doar, left, chief counsel for the committee, bring impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in the Judiciary Committee hearing room at the U.S. Capitol in 1974.

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Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton helps first lady Rosalynn Carter on a campaign swing through Arkansas in June 1979. Also seen in the photo is Hillary Clinton, center background.

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Bill Clinton embraces his wife shortly after a stage light fell near her on January 26, 1992. They talk to Don Hewitt, producer of the CBS show "60 Minutes."

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Hillary Clinton visits Brooklyn to meet staffers ...

This post has beenupdated.

Hillary Clinton told a group of her top fundraisersThursday that if she is elected president, her nominees to the Supreme Court will have to share her belief thatthe court's 2010 Citizens United decision must be overturned, according to people who heard her remarks.

Clinton's emphatic opposition to the ruling, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums on independent political activity, garnered the strongest applause of the afternoon from the more than200 party financiers gathered in Brooklyn for a closed-door briefing from the Democratic candidate and her senior aides, according to some of those present.

"She got major applausewhen she said would not name anybody to the Supreme Court unless she has assurances that they would overturn" the decision, said one attendee, who, like others, requested anonymity to describe the private session.

If the make-up of the court does not change by 2017, four of the justices will be 78 years of age or older by the time the next president is inaugurated.

Clintons pledge to use opposition to Citizens United as a litmus test for Supreme Court nominees echoes the stance taken by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is challenging her for the Democratic nomination.

If elected president, I will have a litmus test in terms of my nominee to be a Supreme Court justice, Sanders said on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday. And that nominee will say that we are all going to overturn this disastrous Supreme Court decision on Citizens United because that decision is undermining American democracy. I do not believe that billionaires should be able to buy politicians.

On Thursday, Clintonalso reiterated her support for a constitutional amendment that would overturnCitizens United, a long-shot effort that is nonetheless popular among Democratic activists.

"She said she is goingto do everything she can," the attendee said. "She was very firm about this that this Supreme Court decision is just a disaster."

A campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The consigliere - John Podesta, one of the top liberal minds in politics, will serve as Clinton's campaign chairman. A former White House chief of staff for Bill Clinton and a top counselor for President Obama, Podesta has the stature to speak truth to power. His influential role in early structural and strategic decisions suggests that he will be a far more hands-on campaign chairman than most.

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The manager - Robby Mook impressed Clinton-land when he ran Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign to primary wins in Nevada, Ohio and Indiana, and again when he led Terry McAuliffe - a longtime Clinton friend and confidant - to the Virginia governor's mansion in 2013. The numbers-focused, Vermont-native has had his hand in hiring many of top campaign strategists this time around and is pushing Clinton's sharp focus on Iowa and New Hampshire.

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The strategist - Joel Benenson started to work with Clinton in 2014, when the former secretary of state was mulling a run and piecing a staff together. The lead pollster for President Obama's winning campaign and re-election, who also worked on Bill Clinton's 1996 race, will be the top campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton. His firm is already starting to test themes and messages for this campaign.

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The adman - Jim Margolis also once worked to defeat Hillary Clinton. Now, he is working with her. Margolis was a senior adviser to both President Barack Obama's successful campaigns and has worked with a number of senators, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Margolis will server as Clinton's top media adviser and ad maker.

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The right-hand man - Marlon Marshall has long been Robby Mook's trusted right-hand man and is seen as a talented organizer and field director. He knows what went right -- and wrong -- during Hillary Clinton's first presidential race because he was there and will be in charge of making adjustments this time. He helped found the Democratic consulting firm 270 Strategies and during a stint at the White House was tasked with promoting Obamacare enrollment.

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Hillary Clinton schedules June stop in Virginia ...

Welcome to day 29 of the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign!

In those 29 days including April 12, the day she announced, and today Clinton has taken a total of eight questions from the press. That breaks out to roughly one question every 3.6 days. Of late, she's taken even fewer questions than that. According to mediareports, the last day Clinton answered a question was April 21 in New Hampshire; that means that she hasn't taken a question from the media in 20 straight days.

Carly Fiorina, one of the many newly minted Republicans running for president, is doing everything she can to shine a light on Clinton's close-mouthed approach with the press. This came from Fiorina deputy campaign manager Sasha Isgur Flores this morning:

In the last eight days, Carly has been interviewed almost 30 times and answered well over 300 questions. She continues to impress voters, pundits, and reporters alike with her willingness to share her thoughts and ideas and to answer any question, from whether she likes hot dogs to how she would tackle the crisis in the Middle East. ...This is in stark contrast to many other candidates and most especially to Hillary Clinton.

And it's not just the Republican candidates attacking Clinton on her silence. The New York Times posted an item on its "First Draft" blog last week titled "Questions for Hillary Clinton: Immigration" in which Amy Chozick wrote: "This is the first installment of a regular First Draft feature in which The Times will publish questions we would have asked Mrs. Clinton had we had the opportunity." And, late last month, I offered up seven questions Clinton should answer.

The Clinton campaign's response to all of this? Blah. Reporters whining like they always do. And, as every Clinton staffer is quick to note, she has answered questions from lots of regular people during her first month as a candidate holding roundtables in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. They are also quick to note that she makes opening statements at these roundtables.

She's taking questions from voters! She's talking about policy! You guys just don't like it because she's not falling all over herself to jump through your hoops!

So, for roughly the billionth time, let me make two points in response to that way of thinking.

1. Making policy statements/opening statements does not remove the need to answer actual questions from reporters.

2. While answering questions from hand-picked audience members is not without value, no one could possibly think it is the equivalent of answering questions from the working press.

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Hillary Clinton hasnt answered a question from the media ...