New Clinton emails suggest more public corruption

Judicial Watch today released 296 pages of State Department records. They include 44 email exchanges that were not previously turned over to the State Department, notwithstanding Hillary Clinton’s claim that as far as she knew, all of her government emails were turned over.

The emails, in the words of Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, “show the Clinton Foundation, Clinton donors, and operatives worked with Hillary Clinton [while she was Secretary of State] in potential violation of the law.” No wonder Clinton and Huma Abedin hid emails from the American people, the courts, and Congress.

In one exchange, from April 2009, Clinton Foundation official Doug Band pushed for a job for an associate. He told Cheryl Mills and Abedin that it is “important to take care of [Redacted].” The email’s caption is “favor.”

In response, Abedin assured Band that “Personnel has been sending him options.” Satisfied that the favor was being granted, Band responded “great.”

We wrote about Doug Band in connection with Hillary Clinton’s corruption here. Band was listed as a passenger on a “Lolita Express” flight with Bill Clinton, two women (“Janice” and “Jessica”), and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Later in April 2009, according to Chuck Ross, Band again emailed Abedin asking for another favor. “Can someone pls call [redacted]? He calls me every day and we owe him some attention,” Band wrote. I can’t tell whether Abedin or some other high level Clinton aide complied with Band’s request and provided the attention that Team Clinton “owed.”

In another email, also from 2009, Band told Mills and Abedin to put Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire and Clinton Foundation donor Gilbert Chagoury in touch with the State Department’s “substance person” on Lebanon. Band explained that Chagoury is “key guy there [Lebanon] and to us.” He insisted that Abedin call Amb. Jeffrey Feltman to connect him to Chagoury.

Chagoury, who was convicted in 2000 in Switzerland for laundering money from Nigeria, is a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and a top donor to the Clinton Foundation. According to Judicial Watch, which cites Foundation documents, he has appeared near the top of the Foundation’s donor list as a $1 million to $5 million contributor, according to foundation documents.

Chagoury also pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative. No wonder Band regarded Chagoury “a key guy. . .to us,” i.e. to Team Clinton.

I can’t tell whether Abedin did as Band told her on behalf of Chagoury in this instance. However, these emails strongly suggest that Clinton failed to comply with the ethics agreement she made in order to be confirmed as Secretary of State. On January 5, 2009, she agreed:

For the duration of my appointment as Secretary if I am confirmed, I will not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which The William J. Clinton Foundation (or the Clinton Global Initiative) is a party or represents a party.

Doing favors for Band, a Clinton Foundation official, and Chagoury, a Clinton Foundation donor and “key guy,” strikes me as inconsistent with that pledge.

And let’s not forget the appointment of Rajiv Fernando to a place on the International Security Advisory Board. Fernando was manifestly unqualified for this post, as Clinton’s own team acknowledged. However, he was a significant donor to the Clinton Foundation.

There have been reports that the FBI is investigating the Clinton Foundation for public corruption. Even assuming the truth of such reports, I think it’s fanciful to think that anything will come of this. The FBI has shot its wad.

However, the new emails are further evidence of public corruption, whether or not the FBI elects to do something about it.

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