Emails show links between State Department and Clinton Foundation

[villager]

Source: CBS

Despite denials that the State Department and the Clinton Foundation had any significant ties to each other while Hillary Clinton served as the nation's chief diplomat, a new batch of emails sheds new light on the seemingly close relationship between the two entities.

The latest email release, obtained by the group Judicial Watch from a State Department Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, included several exchanges between a top foundation worker and State officials working under Clinton.

In one back-and-forth from April 2009, Doug Band, who worked for the Clinton Foundation (including its Clinton Global Initiative) as well as serving as a personal aide to Bill Clinton, appeared to push then-State Department aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mill for "a favor" on behalf of a foundation associate.

Band said in his email that it was "important to take care of [redacted]," and Abedin responded "We have all had him on our radar" and that "Personnel has been sending him options."

Band, in another email to Abedin and Mills in April of that year, asked for the State Department's "substance person" in Lebanon to contact Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire philanthropist who was one of the Clinton Foundation's top donors.

<snip>

On Tuesday evening, Trump's campaign slammed the emails as "yet more evidence that Hillary Clinton lacks the judgment, character, stability and temperament to be within 1,000 miles of public power."

"She views public office as nothing more than a means to personal enrichment - and every dollar she takes comes at the expense of the public welfare," Trump's national policy director, Stephen Miller, said in a statement.

The Clinton campaign, however, has pushed back against those implications, saying that the emails never involved Clinton herself or the Foundation's work, according to a New York Times report.

Band, they said, had been operating as an aide to former President Bill Clinton and not as a Foundation official.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/emails-show-links-between-state-department-and-clinton-foundation/

[geek tragedy]

1. shocking that this kind of networking behavior goes on

amongst political appointees.

[jberryhill]

55. You mean there might be "links"

...between State Department activities and major international charitable foundations!

The horror. I'll bet there are "links" between State Department initiatives and, oh, the Red Cross, Feed the Children, World Vision and the Salvation Army.

I mean, that sort of thing could result in coordination between US aid to foreigners and parallel efforts of non-governmental organizations!

[geek tragedy]

56. I hear that there are people who

know other people.

[jberryhill]

58. This is deeper than I thought

People working in the field of international humanitarian efforts might actually KNOW one another?

My God. Can you just imagine if they actually communicated?

Clearly we must elect an unstable madman as president to avoid things like diplomats discussing things with aid organizations.

[yardwork]

65. With Trump in charge, we probably won't have diplomats or aid organizations.

Problem solved.

[wordpix]

70. federal job networking is common in DC---shocking!

Another repug-manufactured "scandal" bites the dust.

[sharp_stick]

2. You can see just how desperate they've become

it's already at the stage of "Shit just throw everything at the fucking wall and hope something, anything, sticks".

This latest email "discovery" is even more pathetic than the last email "discovery". I can't wait for the next one.

[Sand Rat Expat]

63. State Department emails show that Clinton once walked past cute puppy without offering pat-pats. NT

[wordpix]

71. this is the best Pooty-poot could do with Assange's help

it's laughable

[drm604]

3. Doesn't the state department work with NGOs at times?

I would think that they do and that, depending on the what they're doing, there's not necessarily anything wrong with that.

This strikes me as more FUD from a right-wing organization. They harp about something being a problem without actually explaining why it is a problem. Most people are lazy and don't want to think about these things too much so take it as a given that something nefarious was going on even if they don't quite know all of the details.

Note that Judicial Watch is anything but non-partisan so you need to look carefully at what they're saying because they're very likely to be putting a slant on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watch

Between 1997 and 2002 Judicial Watch received $7,069,500 in 19 grants from a handful of foundations. The bulk of this funding came from three foundations – the Sarah Scaife Foundation, The Carthage Foundation, and the John M. Olin Foundation, Inc., which folded in 2005. As of 2010, the Sarah Scaife Foundation was the group's largest contributor.

[villager]

5. I actually think that "mainstream" sites like CBS need to put in that info about Judicial Watch

...to provide more context for articles like this.

[George II]

4. People talk to each other, they don't live alone in caves or cocoons!

[vkkv]

6. Everyday type of stuff at any level..

Trey Gowdy already shot his wod..

..zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzz.........

[upaloopa]

7. If it is from Judicial Watch it is bull shit. We should all know that by now.

[villager]

9. But the emails are the emails, so the question -- source of the FOIA request aside -- is how it will

...be reported, whether it becomes a story with "legs" or not....

[upaloopa]

13. We don't need to report bull shit

This is another one of those nothing there there stories to hurt Hillary.

This is red meat for low information voters

[villager]

14. Well, it's a CBS story. And several other outlets. It wont simply "go away" by fulminating here.

It's good to know how to rebut this stuff.

[upaloopa]

18. The media is your reference point?

[villager]

21. For what the media is reporting on? Yes. nt

[lapucelle]

51. It needs to be reported accurately.

Clinton was not party to the emails.
You have show an actual quid pro quo, not just a vague and tenuous connection.
The emails were not "secret". The State Department had them, not Clinton


I wish a group of responsible and respected people would write and sign a letter concerning the never-ending witch hunt. Does anybody think that so many policy people, former agency heads, Republicans, and former cabinet officials would be supporting Clinton if she had run a pay to play operation?

And just to recap, who have the right wing, Republicans and Wiki Leaks been persecuting?
Hillary Clinton
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Cheryl Mills
Huma Abedin

Do you see a pattern?

[Friend or Foe]

8. See what happens when you pal around with

Lucifer!

[Squinch]

35. Thank you! I think you have given me the answer I am going to give from now on

when people talk to me about shit like this while their hair is aflame.

It's beautiful!

Welcome to DU.

[tonyt53]

10. What happened is no different than a person contacting their Senator with some help.

Hell. People do it daily with help on their SS benefits. How is it okay to call a Senator's office and ask for some help with SS when Social Security isn't managed daily by the Senate? My dad contacted Burch Bayh's office in the mid-70's for help with his back lung benefits. We didn't live in IN either.

[JoePhilly]

11. More Judical Watch mastabatory fantasies.

[pnwmom]

12. The Supreme Court, in an 8 to 0 decision, tossed out the VA GOP governor's

corruption conviction for taking substantial personal gifts (and not reporting them), saying that the prosecutors failed to prove tit-for-tat.

Here they have other people, not Hillary, networking. If this is the best Hillary's detractors can do, they've got nothing.

[NWCorona]

16. This isn't nothing. Some of them are really bad in fact.

I'm not saying quid pro quo as that's not for me to decide and I haven't really read up on this batch but still...

Out of all the people I've tangled with on this subject. You are by far one of the most knowledgeable and even tho I don’t always agree with you. I always respect your position but this new dump isn't a good look. Not earth shattering but definitely not good.

[pnwmom]

17. What specifically is "really bad"?

[NWCorona]

20. We can start with the email here about this guy Gilbert Chagoury.

Are you saying it's nothing?

[pnwmom]

24. It looks like someone is asking for contact information. Is that so shocking? n/t

[yallerdawg]

26. Imagine if this was "United Way."

Just more trumped-up Judicial Watch speculation and innuendo.

[NWCorona]

30. See post #29

My post shouldn't have upset you to that degree.

[NWCorona]

29. Shocking? For me that would be a no. I understand or rather

Begrudgingly except that is how the game is played. That doesn't minimize the impact of this email chain. This is a foreign Clinton Foundation/Global Initiative donor to the tune of a BILLION + and was convicted of money laundering who asked for and received special access.

Can you honestly say that those facts mean nothing?

[pnwmom]

31. No, he is worth a billion. He hasn't donated a billion. Over the course of ten years he's given

between 1 and 5 million.

Where are you getting your info? It's grossly unreliable.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/newly-released-emails-highlight-clinton-foundations-ties-to-state-department-1470785910

Mr. Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, has donated between $1 million and $5 million to the foundation, according to its disclosures.

[NWCorona]

34. I'm sorry but I can't see that link as I've reached the free limit.

I'm gonna assume that the total in the article states that amount was donated to the foundation. Did it mention the global initiative? That's where he supposedly bundled the $1B. I'll double check when I get a better data connection.

[pnwmom]

42. Okay, the Chagoury Group made that commitment as a member of the Global Initiative,

for a massive project in Lagos that a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group -- not the GI -- is carrying out.

This is how the Global Initiative works. The GI doesn't take money and pass out donations or do work. It's a kind of networking system with a $20K fee, where "movers and shakers" can inspire each other and make connections. So that pledge you mentioned is just the Chagoury Group announcing their big project in Lagos.

In other words, the Chagoury Group didn't make a billion dollar donation to the Foundation or the Global Initiative. They pledged to spend a billion dollars on a project in Lagos, that they are carrying out themselves. They are getting networking assistance as members of the Global Initiative. The cost of membership in the Global Initiative is $20,000 per year.

None of this will benefit the Clintons personally. None of the Clintons take a salary from either the Initiative or the Foundation. They make donations TO the foundation, not the other way around.

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/commitments/eko-atlantic-lagos-nigeria

Eko Atlantic, Lagos, Nigeria

Commitment by The Chagoury Group

In 2009, South Energyx Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of The Chagoury Group, committed to combat the devastating effects of coastal erosion accelerated by climate change through the reclamation of nine square kilometres of land behind a giant sea wall. This reclaimed land, when completed in 2015, will become a platform for the construction of a new city called Eko Atlantic, which will protect Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria from severe risk of ocean surge and flooding.

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/membership/frequently-asked-questions

Commitment Development

A Commitment to Action is not a financial contribution to CGI. Rather, it is a detailed plan of action for addressing an issue such as climate change, poverty, or access to health care. Commitments must meet three basic criteria: they must be new, specific, and measurable. While some members join CGI with a clear idea for a commitment, others work closely with their relationship managers to develop their goals and plan projects. Our staff is available throughout the year to discuss ideas and approaches and help members explore partnership opportunities, which may include joining an existing CGI commitment. Read more about commitments.

WHAT ARE THE TERMS OF MEMBERSHIP?

The membership fee is $20,000 ($19,000 tax deductible) per year. Membership expires 12 months from the first day of the month in which membership is processed (example: if you register on June 1, 2014, your membership expires on June 1, 2015).


https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/about-us/frequently-asked-questions

WHAT IS THE CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE?

President Bill Clinton established the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2005 to turn ideas into action. From presidents to academics, from the boardroom to the classroom, CGI members across sectors are creating positive change around the world.

Rather than directly implementing projects, CGI facilitates action by helping members connect, collaborate, and make effective and measurable Commitments to Action—plans for addressing significant global challenges.

CGI conducted its inaugural meeting in 2005 in New York City. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 190 sitting and former heads of state, 21 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media.

In addition to the Annual Meeting, CGI has expanded to include youth- and geographic-specific platforms. This includes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. CGI meetings have also been held internationally, including CGI Asia in 2008, CGI Latin America in 2013, and CGI Middle East & Africa this year, all of which brought together leaders across sectors to take action on pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.

[NWCorona]

45. This is why I love debating with you! Thanks for the links and will read further when I can.

[pnwmom]

46. You're welcome. I didn't know the details of the GI till you brought it up, so we both benefited.

Now we both know more than we did before about what the heck the Global Initiative is.



Maybe I should post this information as an OP sometime, since questions about this are bound to keep coming up.

[NWCorona]

47. Your digging skills are impressive

And it's always a good day when you learn something new!

I think an op would be wise as it's always good to get ahead of an issue.

[MelSC]

69. Yes you should please

And thank you for your time and research!

[creeksneakers2]

48. There never even was a meeting

[NWCorona]

50. And there doesn't have to be a meeting. There wasn't even an indication of a meeting being setup.

It's about the access provided.

If you want to think this is nothing go right ahead but I'm not even looking for this story and that's all my feeds are giving me. Oh yeah, that climber is up in there too.

[mucifer]

43. It's by state law sometime. Our governor blago here in Illinois got 14 years in prison

for pay to play.

I hope it's nothing. Wait and see.

[pnwmom]

44. Nothing in those emails is comparable to what your governor was accused of doing.

Hillary wasn't taking bribes.

[videohead5]

15. CNN BS!

They were talking about these e-mails and brought up her private server like these e-mails was on her private server.these e-mails was her aides e-mails and was never on her server.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

19. CNN is continuing to report it as fact without disclosing how totally biased Judicial Watch is

or that they have been trying to smear the Clinton's for decades. They are reporting innuendo without any substantive proof as a source for declaring it to be massive trail of corruption. The timing of this release was to distract from the lunatic's call to violence and CNN is using it to be pretend to be fair and balance so Trump doesn't threaten them with tweets again.

[amandabeech]

25. CNN buried what would have been the lead.

Read the CNN story carefully. There's something in there that to me is worse. Expect leaks from FBI agents to start popping up.

Crimes are bad.

But as those of us who were awake during Watergate know, it's the coverup, not the crime.

[randome]

38. Oh, Jesus, not another Watergate analogy!

How many times has that failed? Give it up, already!
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Meredith McIver approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[Loki]

22. Larry Klayman and Judicial Watch

Last edited Wed Aug 10, 2016, 05:11 PM - Edit history (1)

are shit magnets.

[LanternWaste]

23. I imagine many molehills will be advertised as mountains in the coming three months.

I imagine many molehills will be advertised as mountains in the coming three months. The rational will realize them for the non-story they are, the irrational will vote for Trump regardless, and never the twain shall meet.

[cali]

27. There is no denying that this kind of news, feeds into the widespread distrust of HRC

Whether one thinks this is fine practice or not, it's damaging just at a time when she needs to reverse that perception of her, held by a majority of voters.

[Loki]

32. The perception of distrust has been a right wing smear job since she was the First Lady.

If you keep repeating the lie often enough, people start to believe it. I lived through that time, and I have no problem trusting her judgement or her capabilities.

[cali]

37. That is not the point. Most voters distrust her.

One can't extrapolate based on one's own perceptions. The fact is, she has a large trust deficit with voters. And not just republicans.

[Loki]

39. At some point you have to ask the question, why?

The fact is that it has been systematically manufactured for over 20+ years by those who have a vested interest in making this perception viable. Buying in to it is a choice made on whether you believe the lie, just like buying into the smear that President Obama was a secret Muslim and not born in this country.

[randome]

41. And you feed into that distrust every time you focus on it.

It's actually irrelevant now since Trump has no chance in hell of winning.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Meredith McIver approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[cali]

64. that's short sighted, and I don't mean that as an insult. We can all be short sighted at times.

I think highly of you. But ignoring it won't make it go away. And though I give her about a 90% chance of winning, there are too many factors, mostly as yet unknown or unseen, to bank on it- like the Federal Appeals Court stay yesterday reversing the lower court on voter ID in Wisconsin.

The day before yesterday, I was thinking no way he can beat her. Just no way, and then I was reading something- nothing to do with this election and I was reminded that anything can happen; reversals of fortune are not unheard of.

I think she can earn trust. I think she's been doing a good job on the campaign trail, but not such a good job in any interviews. I realize the MSM is focused more on Trump's antics and outrageousness than anything else, but Enten over at 538 says the MSM has been covering her far more.

Pretending that she doesn't have that deficit or suggesting that talking about it makes it worse, is superficial analysis. And talking about it does not exacerbate or feed into it.

[Kingofalldems]

68. Oh,welcome back. I thought you were taking a break from DU.

[still_one]

59. The fact is people are just regurgitating the same old bullshit that the media has been spewing

against Hillary for decades.

The public is like pavlov's dog, repeating whatever is fed them whether it has validity or not.

The best example of this in U.S. history was the Joe McCarthy period

So how many people believe President Obama is a Muslim/American born?

"A startling number of Americans still believe President Obama is a Muslim

Even though President Obama nods to his Christian faith regularly in both serious and light-hearted settings, a large number of Americans still believe he is a Muslim. According to a new CNN/ORC poll, 29 percent of Americans say they think that Obama is a Muslim, including 43 percent of Republicans.

Sixty-one percent of Democrats say Obama is a Protestant, compared with 28 percent of Republicans and 32 percent of independents. Also, according to CNN, 54 percent of those who support Donald Trump say they believe Obama is a Muslim."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/09/14/a-startling-number-of-americans-still-believe-president-obama-is-a-muslim/

1 in 5 Americans believe President Obama is foreign born:

http://time.com/4033161/obama-foreign-born/

Hillary Killed Vince Foster

Richard Jewel was the Centennial Olympic Park bomber

and while a Gallop poll showed 47% of Americans would vote for a socialist, I have no doubt that if Bernie had won the nomination, the media would be falsely equating socialism with communism, and those poll numbers would change dramatically.

[yardwork]

57. Bullshit.

Hillary is supposed to go back in time and stop her staff from sending an email years ago?

This is just bullshit.

[MichiganVote]

28. Anything illegal? No. So since this is DC, not really seeing the problem.

[crosinski]

33. love this quote

And they can't stop pounding on the private server thing either ... love this quote -

“after the Justice Department decided it would not press criminal charges over her use of a home-brewed server”

'Home-brewed' sounds like her and Bill set it up one night themselves. I can just see them with the instruction manuals spread out all over the place, quarter of pizza left in a delivery box, probably in the basement, third pot of coffee half way gone, 4 or 5 am, all the other lights out in the house off. Hey, not too bad for a server that was never proven to be hacked, like the government's server was!

As for the three emails her aides sent they're talking about now, I think it's just three, well once the media have a bone, they just can't let go of the bone. Doesn't matter if the bone has no meat. It's a bone, and they're gonna keep shaking' the bone, 'cause, you know, maybe it'll magically grow some meat! And they can't seem to distinguish between bones. They just keep shaking the same old bone.

(But then, maybe I've been spending too much time with my dog.)

[villager]

36. "home-brewed" actually makes it sounds like they're tech hobbyists...

...and like you say, set it up themselves out of parts, older servers, kits, etc...

[lapucelle]

54. The server was set up in 2002 on the advice and under the supervision of the Secret Service

for use by a former president and his family.

The Secret Service became the agency responsible for executive branch cyber security under Homeland Security legislation.

[NWCorona]

67. That was Bill's server but it was updated with off the shelf components by Brian Pagliano

Hence the name "homebrewed"

[NWCorona]

66. The term "homebrewed" comes from the fact that the first server

That Brian built for Hillary was comprised of components from Bills old server and standard off the shelf parts and not a standard commercial rack mount server. It is an odd term but it's not necessarily a negative.

[Loki Liesmith]

40. Nothingburger

Hold the cheese

[creeksneakers2]

49. After a year and a half

of hollering about State Department pay for play with the Clinton Foundation, after every E-mail at the State Department is searched, this is all they come up with? A discussion about a job for a former employee. It doesn't even say he was a donor. Communications about setting up a meeting for a donor but the meeting never even took place. That's it! After all that slander.

[Snotcicles]

53. Lets not forget about Rajiv K. Fernando the donor who gave $250,000.00 than had to resign from

the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB).

[MFM008]

52. First

Klayman is a nutcase .
He's been after the Clinton's since the 90s.
He sued his own mother.

Most importantly it's about emails.
Of which I don't GIVE A SHIT.

[Joisey Boy]

61. Did any of these e-mails suggest the assassination of Hillary's opponents?

No? Then who the hell cares???