Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik assured Democratic senators Monday that the re-opened investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server will be given the utmost attention and finished quickly.
Kadzik is also a longtime friend and associate of Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta.
Kadzik is the head of the Department of Justice’s office of legislative affairs and thus not likely to be in the direct chain of command into the investigation of Clinton’s email server. He does, though, have the power to deny a request for a special prosecutor, as he did last November.
The Daily Caller recently reported on how emails released by WikiLeaks showed the tight relationship between Podesta and Kadzik. The two met for dinner along with other friends the night after Clinton testified before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
A few months later in January, Kadzik asked Podesta if his son could get a job on the Clinton campaign. According to Linkedin, PJ Kadzik didn’t get the job. Then in May, Podesta and Kadzik met for dinner at Podesta’s house.
In one email Podesta described Kadzik as a “fantastic lawyer” who “kept me out of jail.” It is unclear what Podesta is specifically referring to, but Kadzik represented Podesta during the Monica Lewinsky probe. Podesta at the time had made false statements to a grand jury impaneled by independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
A 2002 House Oversight Committee report described Kadzik as a “long-time friend” of Podesta’s.
Kadzik’s letter Monday to Democratic senators Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, Thomas Carper and Benjamin Cardin came in response to a letter Saturday night from those senators requesting detailed information about the case. The assistant attorney general’s response assured the senators that the investigation will be completed as swiftly as possible and that the DOJ will lend the Federal Bureau of Investigation whatever resources necessary.