Top Hillary Clinton advisers tried to figure out which Clinton Foundation aide had been leaking information to National Journal writer Ron Fournier, emails published by WikiLeaks show.
An anonymous foundation aide told Fournier to “follow the foundation money.”
“Under fire, Bill Clinton said his namesake charity has ‘done a lot more good than harm’—hardly a ringing endorsement. One of his longest-serving advisers, a person who had worked directly for the foundation, told me the ‘longtime whispers of pay-to-play are going to become shouts,'” Fournier wrote in March 2015.
“This person, a Clinton loyalist and credible source, has no evidence of wrongdoing but said the media’s suspicions are warranted. ‘The emails are a related but secondary scandal,'” the source said. ‘Follow the foundation money,'” Fournier wrote.
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and Center For American Progress chief Neera Tanden emailed about Fournier’s article in a conversation that surfaced on WikiLeaks as a result of a reported hack of Podesta’s online communications.
Tanden wrote to Podesta on March 8: “@JoeNBC: A source close to the Clintons tell @ron_fournier to ‘follow the money’ and find the real HRC scandal. http://t.co/lPTQY0L0o4 I’m hoping someone is keeping tabs on Doug Band. Quote in here is from someone who worked in Clinton Foundation.”
Podesta responded, “Eric Braverman.”
Tanden replied, “Is he really that long serving? described as long serving aide at the foundation.”
Podesta guessed again, “No could be doug or ira,” referring to Clinton aide and Teneo consulting chief Doug Band as well as Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clinton Health Access Initiative Ira Magaziner.
In an effort to clean up the foundation’s finances, Chelsea Clinton brought in a former colleague and friend from McKinsey & Company, Eric Braverman, to become the organization’s new CEO. However, his time there was short and just months after his hire, he quit and longtime Clinton ally Bruce Lindsey returned to the position from Braverman that he originally had.
Band found himself at odds with Chelsea and complained about her to Podesta in regards to the changes she made at the foundation, while Chelsea was uncomfortable with the relationship Band’s consulting firm had with the organization.