Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is joined on stage after her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention by her husband, former president Bill Clinton. A new batch of emails show Hillary Clinton's top advisers at the State Department were in regular contact with employees of the Clinton Foundation. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI |
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A newly released batch of 44 emails from Hillary Clinton's aides at the State Department showed there was a close relationship between the secretary's staff and those at her husband Bill Clinton's philanthropic organization, the Clinton Foundation.
The emails, obtained as part of a lawsuit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch, show a Clinton Foundation lawyer, Doug Band, communicating with two of Hillary Clinton's top aides at the State Department, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. In one exchange, Band asks Abedin and Mills to hire someone with ties to the foundation, though the person's name was redacted by the State Department. In another, Band asks whether the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon would speak with a billionaire Clinton Foundation donor about an unstated problem in the country.
Prior to taking office in 2009, Hillary Clinton pledged to cease all work on behalf of the Clinton Foundation while serving as secretary of state but the emails show there was still a close working relationship at least on the staff level between the foundation and the State Department.
When Clinton left the State Department, Abedin went to work for the foundation for a time.
The response from Republicans was swift and harsh.
Donald Trump released a statement saying Clinton was "corrupt" during her time as secretary of state.
"She views public office as nothing more than a means to personal enrichment," he said.
A spokeswoman for the State Department downplayed the significance of the emails, noting it is common for government officials to be in regular contact with a wide array of nonprofits, non-governmental organizations and other philanthropic groups around the world, especially one as large as the multi-billion dollar Clinton Foundation.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told ABC News the contact between Hillary Clinton's aides and the Clinton Foundation were routine and would not have drawn scrutiny were it not for the familial connection and Clinton's presidential campaign.
"State Department officials are regularly in touch with a range of outside individuals and organizations including non-profits, NGOs, think tanks, and others," Trudeau said in a statement.
Responding to the request to hire an individual with connections to the Clinton Foundation, Mills and Abedin replied favorably and said the State Department's personnel office was "sending options" to the person.
Trudeau said the department hires political appointees through "a variety of avenues."
The Clinton campaign released a statement in response to the emails Tuesday, saying Clinton herself was not involved in the requests and none of the people mentioned in the email -- the person seeking the job or the billionaire seeking access to an ambassador -- were employees of the Clinton Foundation.
"Neither of these emails involve the Secretary or relate to the foundation's work," the Clinton campaign said in a statement early Wednesday. "They are communications between her aides and [Bill Clinton's] personal aide, and indeed the [job] recommendation was for one of the secretary's former staffers who was not employed by the foundation."
Judicial Watch noted the emails were not released until after the FBI concluded its investigation into Clinton and are from a period of time when Clinton said her email server was not properly documenting and archiving correspondence. Clinton and the State Department have said some of the emails from 2009, early in Clinton's tenure, were not saved.
