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New Huma Abedin emails show more ties to Clinton Foundation

By Eric DuVall
Huma Abedin, longtime aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, stands near Clinton as she greets supporters following a rally in Scranton, Pa., last week. Emails publicized by the conservative group Judicial Watch showed Abedin coordinating with Clinton Foundation lawyer Douglas Band to facilitate meetings for top foundation donors with State Department officials. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Huma Abedin, longtime aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, stands near Clinton as she greets supporters following a rally in Scranton, Pa., last week. Emails publicized by the conservative group Judicial Watch showed Abedin coordinating with Clinton Foundation lawyer Douglas Band to facilitate meetings for top foundation donors with State Department officials. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The conservative group Judicial Watch publicized several new email chains Tuesday between a top aide to Hillary Clinton at the State Department and a top aide at the Clinton Foundation, discussing potential meetings between Clinton and a longtime foundation donor.

The new emails are the latest in a string of potentially embarrassing notes between top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and Douglas Band, a lawyer at the Clinton Foundation. During one exchange, Band requests Abedin's help in arranging a meeting between Clinton and the crown prince of Bahrain, who was also a top donor to the Clinton Foundation. Band refers to the Bahraini prince as a "good friend of ours."

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Abedin initially hedged on the request, then responded in the affirmative, telling Band the State Department had also reached out to the crown prince "through official channels" to set up the meeting the following day.

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In another instance, Band contacted Abedin for help resolving a U.S. visa issue stemming from criminal charges against a British soccer player whose club owner was also a Clinton Foundation donor. Abedin told Band she was "nervous" asking Clinton to personally intervene.

"Then don't," Band replied.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the emails are further evidence Clinton's staff at the State Department showed a conflict of interest and that donations to the Clinton Foundation also bought access to the State Department.

"It is hard to tell where the State Department ended and where the Clinton Foundation began," he said. "They were working hand in glove."

Previous emails between Band and Abedin showed him requesting a meeting between a foundation donor and the U.S. ambassador in Lebanon, and inquiring about the possibility of a State Department job for another Clinton Foundation associate.

The email release comes a day after the FBI said it uncovered an additional 15,000 emails from Clinton during her time as secretary of state through further searches of her private email server and by searching the archives of government officials with whom she interacted.

An FBI spokesman said investigators had not vetted any of the emails for substance, instead turning them over to the State Department, which must now vet them for national security redactions before making them public under terms set forth by the judge overseeing the Judicial Watch lawsuit. The soonest the emails could be turned over under the Freedom of Information Act is October, weeks before the general election.

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The department has released some 55,000 pages of Clinton's redacted emails -- about 30,000 messages in all -- though Monday's revelation that up to 15,000 additional emails were found could lead to greater scrutiny.

A State Department spokesman told The New York Times it was not immediately clear whether some of the emails are duplicates of ones previously vetted or if they were personal in nature. Employees were working to prioritize the emails for vetting.

Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said the candidate supports releasing all of her work-related emails.

"We are not sure what additional materials the Justice Department may have located," Fallon said. "But if the State Department determines any of them to be work-related, then obviously we support those documents being released publicly as well."

A State Department spokesman said no action was taken by department officials on behalf of the Clinton Foundation and close relationships between high-level department employees and major philanthropic groups of the foundation's ilk are common.

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