Politics

Huma Abedin Granted Access To Hillary Based On Clinton Global Initiative Donor Status

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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Newly released emails show that Hillary Clinton’s top State Department adviser, Huma Abedin, granted access to the then-secretary of state during overseas diplomatic visits based upon Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) donor status.

A Dec. 4, 2012 email obtained by Citizens United and shared exclusively with The Daily Caller shows that Paul McElearney, CGI’s head of member development, emailed Abedin asking if he could meet with Hillary Clinton during her trip to Ireland two days later.

Abedin said that she could accommodate McElearney, and he then asked if several other people, including two CGI sponsors, could also meet Clinton. McElearney forwarded four names for Abedin’s consideration.

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State Department email obtained by Citizens United

“Are these legit cgi people?” Abedin asked Band and two other Bill Clinton aides, Jon Davidson and Justin Cooper.

“I know denis o brian [sic] but not the others. Everyone is asking to see her,” Abedin added. O’Brien is an Irish billionaire who has donated heavily to Clinton causes.

The email is just the latest to show that State Department access was granted to donors to the Clintons’ various causes, including the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation.

Another email obtained by Citizens United, which is suing the State Department for Abedin’s emails, shows that in April 2011, Doug Band, a longtime aide of Bill Clinton who co-founded the Clinton Global Initiative, asked Abedin to invite Diego Donoso, an executive with Dow Chemical’s offices in Japan, to a diplomatic session between Hillary Clinton and Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister at the time.

Dow Chemical had several connections to the Clintons. The company was a donor to the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative. But it was also a client of Teneo Holdings, a consulting firm that Band started with Declan Kelly at around the same time that he was emailing Abedin. (RELATED: Emails Reveal Clintons’ ‘Sleazy’ And Intricate Relationship With Major Chemical Manufacturer)

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State Department email obtained by Citizens United

Dow Chemical paid Teneo $2.8 million in 2011 and $16 million in 2012 for a variety of consultancy services. Bill Clinton was an honorary chairman of Teneo. He was set to be paid $3.5 million for that position but only kept $100,000 because of scandals that erupted around the firm.

It is not clear if Donoso attended the event, which was held just over a month after the Fukishima nuclear disaster occurred in Japan.

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