Conservative watchdog organization Judicial Watch has released a new batch of Hillary Clinton emails that span 296 pages. The new emails were sourced from State Department records and include 44 emails that the organization says were not previously turned over to the department by Clinton. The latest emails are raising questions about the Clinton Foundation’s relationship with the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state.
Judicial Watch reports that emails in the latest dump show that the State Department had a particularly cozy relationship with the Clinton Foundation, a relationship that some worry may have been criminal. The emails in question include messages between Clinton Foundation officials and then-Secretary Hillary Clinton’s aides pushing for donors to speak to State officials and even sought jobs for friends within the State Department.
#HillaryEmails Obtained Thru FOIA Appear to Show #ClintonFoundation Donors Called In Favors to #StateDept https://t.co/D5doxvhA5H #PayToPlay
— ImplausibleEndeavors (@MindOfMo) August 12, 2016
In one email to Clinton’s aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, Clinton Foundation official Doug Bend presses for an associate to obtain a job within the State Department. Bend tells Abedin in one email that it is “important to take care of [Redacted],” at which the aide replies that “[p]ersonnel has been sending him options.”
However, it appears as though Bend wasn’t the only one hoping to land a friend a position within the State Department, as Clinton fundraiser Lana Moresky also sent Hillary Clinton an email requesting that a friend be considered for a position at the State Department. Moresky noted that when she met Clinton at a convention, they had discussed a particular individual for a State position, and she wanted to ensure his name was still in the running for a spot. She goes on to denote herself as a loyal friend and again asks for the friend to be seriously considered.
Other emails regarding some of the Clinton Foundation’s biggest donors are also sparking concerns that as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton did not cut her ties with the organization as she had promised. Another email from Doug Bend asks Abedin and Mills to put a top Clinton Foundation donor in contact with a substance person in Lebanon.
Billionaire Gilbert Chagoury seemingly wanted to speak with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon and was seemingly using his ties to the Clinton Foundation in an attempt to ensure the meeting took place. Interestingly, Chagoury is a prominent Clinton Foundation donor, having earned a spot as a $1-5 million donor and also pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative. However, he is also a convicted money launderer.
In the email exchange regarding Chagoury, Bend noted the man as a “key guy there [Lebanon] and to us,” indicating the meeting could be mutually beneficial. Abedin responded by letting Bend know that she would talk to Jeff Feltman, the U.S. Ambassador in Lebanon, and try to set up a meeting.
Yet another email indicated that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wanted to meet with a Clinton Foundation donor on her trip to Asia. The donor and chairman of Morgan Stanely Asia , Stephen Roach, had provided Hillary with a copy of his upcoming testimony before Congress in which he condemned the United States’ criticism of Chinese monetary policy and potential trade barriers. In response, Clinton requested that Roach connect with her in Asia via the embassy or another state event.
“I forwarded you my email to him about connecting in Beijing. Can he come to the embassy or other event?”
While some of the emails appear damning on the surface, Hillary Clinton’s campaign tells CNN that there was nothing illegal done and that Clinton is being attacked by the right-wing Judicial Watch.
Emails Do Not Show Improper Influence From Clinton Foundation, State Department Says – ABC News https://t.co/4nxRRYF69d
— Xan Skinner (@xanskinner) August 12, 2016
“They are communications between her aides and the President’s personal aide, and indeed the recommendation was for one of the Secretary’s former staffers who was not employed by the Foundation. The right-wing organization behind this lawsuit has been attacking the Clintons since the 1990s and no matter how this group tries to mischaracterize these documents, the fact remains that Hillary Clinton never took action as secretary of state because of donations to the Clinton Foundation.”
What do you think about the latest Clinton emails? Do they indicate that the relationship between the State Department and Clinton Foundation was too close?
[Photo by M. Spencer Green/AP Photo]