In a 2009 email exchange, Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band pushed two of Clinton’s top aides to put Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire and top foundation donor Gilbert Chagoury in contact with the US ambassador to Lebanon.
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On Tuesday, the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch released some new emails involving Clinton’s staff, including one in which a longtime adviser to Bill Clinton wrote to Clinton’s State Department aides requesting a meeting for a longtime Clinton Foundation donor. In the email Band tells Hillary Clinton’s former aides at the State Department, Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, that it is “important to take care of [Redacted]”. “Personnel has been sending him options”.
In one of the emails, a Clinton Foundation executive pressed for access for a donor – a Lebanese/Nigerian billionaire – to the proper State Department official to talk about the businessman’s interests in Lebanon.
“It’s jeff feltman”, Abedin responded, referring to Jeffrey Feltman, who was the United States ambassador to Lebanon at the time.
The firm, and Abedin’s ability to work simultaneously for it and the State Department, have drawn ire from some conservative corners, where critics have railed about conflicts of interest and warned that officials outside of the government had undue influence on US diplomacy.
Craig Holman, a lobbyist with the group Public Citizen, tells Politico, “The Clinton Foundation was taking money from anybody who would give it, and the biggest contributions were from people who had business before the State Department”.
Several months ago, FBI and Justice Department officials met to discuss opening a criminal investigation into potential public corruption at the Clinton Foundation, CNN reported Thursday, citing “a USA official”. Jeffrey Feltman to connect him to Chagoury.
Clinton was dismissed of any criminal wrongdoing related to her private email practices by FBI Director James Comey in July – a decision Trump has used to advance his message that the “system is rigged”.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
A Clinton Foundation official asks Hillary Clinton’s aides to help find a position within the State Department for a friend.
State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday that the Department hires political appointees through a “variety of avenues” and suggested there was nothing unusual about this exchange. Victor Pinchuk had also made donations to the Clinton foundation. The foundation has the Clinton name on it. Clinton said she turned over to the State Department all documents from her private account.
A reporter showed his frustration with a State Department spokeswoman on Thursday as he grilled her with ethical questions about the Clinton Foundation.
Notably, Schwerin’s comment does not address Band’s request on behalf of Chagoury, the major Clinton Foundation donor.
If the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been investigating the Clinton Foundation since they have been working on the other email scandal, then we might here something before the election.
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It’s clear from the emails that the undue influence existed for the Clinton Foundation.
