We don’t know where the State Department ends and the Clinton foundation begins. That’s one of the latest lines of attack from Republican nominee Donald Trump, which emanated from the Associated Press story last week, where they revealed that more than half of Clinton’s meetings with persons outside of government were Clinton Foundation donors. Moreover, top aide Huma Abedin acted as the middle person between the State Department, the Foundation, and the person seeking a meeting with Clinton, who was usually granted one after making a donation when going through the proper channels failed.
Now, new emails from Judicial Watch showed that Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band asked Abedin for diplomatic passports. Fox News’ Catherine Herridge said on Shepherd Smith Reporting that such passports have a tight vetting process, usually reserved for diplomats, their families, and some government contractors, but not for a family nonprofit. We don’t know if Band got these documents, but Abedin said they would “figure it out” (via Judicial Watch):
Judicial Watch today released 510 pages of new State Department documents, including a 2009 request by Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band for diplomatic passports for himself and an associate. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s aide Abedin responded to Band’s request positively, saying, “Ok will figure it out.” The emails show Hillary Clinton forwarding classified information to Abedin’s unsecured, non-state.gov account. The emails also show Bill Clinton sought a meeting with Mrs. Clinton for a major Clinton donor with State Department officials and Hillary Clinton herself pushed for a joint event with the Clinton Global Initiative. Band also pushed for and obtained special help from Abedin for seven-figure Clinton Foundation donor Chris Ruddy, of Newsmax.com.[…]
The Band request was for a special diplomatic passport for himself and his associates – an unidentified “JD” and apparently Justin Cooper, formerly a key member of Bill Clinton’s personal office and the Clinton Foundation who has been linked to registration documents for and the shutting down of the email server at the center of Mrs. Clinton’s State Department emails controversy.
Cooper was also a person receiving a federal stipend from the General Services Administration while setting up and maintaining Hillary’s private email server. In essence, taxpayer funds were being used to subsidize the unsecured server’s tech support.
