WASHINGTON – More than eight months after Hillary Clinton’s election loss, her use of a private email server and other conduct during her tenure as U.S. secretary of state continue to haunt her.
A newly released batch of documents obtained by Judicial Watch showcases numerous instances of Clinton Foundation donors receiving favors from the State Department.
In one email exchange, Huma Abedin, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff in the State Department and longtime aide, negotiated who the next the U.S. ambassador to Barbados would be after Clinton Global Initiative executive Doug Band recommended a candidate to fill the position.
“I know, he’s emailed a few times,” Abedin said in reply to Band’s request. “But she wants to give someone else.”
Another exchange shows Band instructing Abedin to “show love” to Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical.
Judicial Watch pointed out Dow gave between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative.
Band also pushed for Hillary Clinton to do a favor for Karlheinz Koegel, a major Clinton Foundation contributor, who wanted the secretary of state to give the “honor speech” for his media prize to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The emails show Tony Rodham, Clinton’s brother, acted as a liaison between Abedin and Korean businessman and Clinton Foundation donor Richard Park. Rodham facilitated the State Department’s approval of an invitation to President Bill Clinton to speak at a North Korean industrial complex that allegedly funds the country’s rogue nuclear program.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton argued the newly released documents substantiate accusations that Clinton and her team engaged in criminality.
“I’m not sure how much more evidence of pay for play, classified information mishandling and influence peddling from Clinton’s email server one would need to show a serious criminal investigation is required,” Fitton said.
To obtain the documents, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in May 2015 against the State Department requesting “all emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from Jan. 1, 2009, through Feb. 1, 2013, using a non-‘state.gov’ email address.”
Bill Clinton’s $48 million speaking tour
Bill Clinton frequently addressed foreign governments and entities that had interests pending before his wife’s State Department. He successfully sought State Department approval for 215 speeches while she served as secretary of state, earning $48 million on the speaking circuit during her tenure, reported the Washington Examiner.
Donors of the Clinton Global Initiative also wielded influence in Clinton’s State Department by requesting the department expedite U.S. visas for foreign nationals, Judicial Watch found.
In the new batch of emails, Clinton donor Ben Ringel contacted Abedin and requested that she help an Iranian woman obtain a U.S. visa, writing, “We need to get her clearance even only temporary to be with her granddaughter.”
Band also used Abedin to help Canadian Clinton donor Michael Cohl obtain a visa.
In both instances, Abedin acquiesced and forwarded the email requests.
Jeopardizing national security, Abedin, in some instances, forwarded emails to her unsecured account with information pertaining to former President Obama’s daily schedule, Clinton’s schedule, “foreign governments” and “national defense or foreign policy.”
“Other emails found in Abedin’s unsecure email account appear to show additional instances of the Clinton State Department’s lax approach to protecting national security,” Judicial Watch said.
According to the Washington watchdog, information regarding “federal preparedness and response for an international terrorist threat to the United States,” “The Secretary’s Phone Call with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang” and “The Secretary’s Phone Call with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov” were also sent to the unsecured email server.
Failed to turn over 439 emails
During the FBI investigation of Clinton’s private email server, the former secretary of state released 55,000 pages of emails and pledged under oath “that as far as she knew” she had turned over all of her government documents.
However, contradicting Clinton’s sworn declaration, the pages Judicial Watch released include six email exchanges she failed to turn over to the State Department, bringing the known total of emails she excluded to more than 439.
On July 11, Judicial Watch released 42 pages of highly redacted documents from the FBI’s criminal investigation into Clinton’s mishandling of high classified materials that were marked “grand jury material.”
According to the documents, Clinton private attorney Katherine Turner handed over Clinton’s non-secure Apple iPads and two of her Blackberrys to the FBI but took out the SIM cards of the devices.
A total of 13 mobile devices identified by the FBI as potentially using clintonemail.com addresses were never located by Clinton’s lawyers, Fitton told Fox News.
“The Trump Justice Department needs to audit this mess and figure out if the Clinton matters need to be reopened or reinvigorated,” Fitton said.
Fitton contends Clinton should undergo another criminal investigation for “influence peddling” and mishandling classified information. And he is calling for a federal investigation of Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman, John Podesta.
Podesta served on the board of a company that received at least $35 million from a Russian investment group that was created and funded by the Kremlin, investigator and author Peter Schweizer told the New York Post.
While the Trump administration has been subjected to an ongoing probe into its alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election, little attention has been given to Podesta’s Russia ties.
“If the standard is if you’re talking to the Russians and doing business with the Russians you need to be investigated, [then] John Podesta fits the bill to a T,” Fitton argued Friday on the Fox Business Network’s “The Intelligence Report with Trish Regan.”
“He served on a board with Russian government officials,” said Fitton. “His board, his company took $35 million out of $110 million raised from a Russia-centered organization, or state organization.”