Clinton denies foundation ties to State Department
- Published
The newly released emails raise questions about the Clinton Foundation's influence on the State Department
Hillary Clinton has dismissed renewed claims that her charitable foundation had influence over the State Department during her time as secretary of state.
A new batch of unreleased emails showed exchanges between Clinton Foundation and State Department employees.
A conservative legal group, Judicial Watch, obtained the emails as part of a lawsuit against the State Department.
The Democratic presidential nominee said the emails did not involve her or relate to the foundation's work.
The emails, which were heavily redacted, came from Mrs Clinton's first three months as secretary of state in 2009.
The latest batch was not included in the more than 30,000 emails Mrs Clinton turned over to the State Department last March as part of an investigation.
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In one email exchange, Clinton Foundation official Doug Band asked Mrs Clinton's top aides, Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, to find a job for a foundation associate at the State Department.
Ms Abedin replied: "We all have him on our radar. Personnel has been sending him options."
However, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told ABC News, external that the State Department hires political appointees through a "variety of avenues".
"State Department officials are regularly in touch with a range of outside individuals and organisations including non-profits, NGOs, think tanks, and others," she said.
Mrs Clinton's campaign addressed the emails highlighted by Judicial Watch, suggesting that Mr Band was acting as former President Bill Clinton's personal assistant and not in his role as the head of the Clinton Global Initiative.
"They are communications between her aides and the president's personal aide, and indeed the recommendation was for one of the Secretary's former staffers who was not employed by the foundation," a statement said.
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In another instance, Mr Band asked Ms Abedin and Ms Mills to put Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, Gilbert Chagoury, in contact with the State Department's "substance person" on Lebanon.
Mr Band said the billionaire foundation donor was a "key guy there [Lebanon] and to us".
The newly released batch also included an email to Mrs Clinton from Stephen Roach, then-chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, who said he was scheduled to testify to Congress and was "happy to help in any way I can."
Mr Roach then met with Mrs Clinton over the summer for 30 minutes, according to Clinton calendars obtained by the AP.
Mrs Clinton's campaign did not immediately address the email exchange with Mr Roach.
Clinton defended her email use in March 2015
The Democratic nominee has been mired in controversy over her use of a personal email server while at the State Department, prompting a federal investigation and undermining her trustworthiness among public opinion.
FBI Director James Comey announced in July that though Mrs Clinton was "extremely careless," his investigation did not find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Republican presidential rival Donald Trump's campaign responded to the latest revelations, saying it was "more evidence that Hillary Clinton lacks the judgment, character, stability and temperament to be within 1,000 miles of public power".