CLINTON,
INC: A dozen companies that lobbied Hillary Clinton’s State Department not only
showered millions on the Clinton Foundation, they employed lobbyists who were
fundraisers for Clinton’s campaigns.
USA Today reports:
The nexus among
private companies, Hillary Clinton’s State Department and the Clinton family
foundations is closer and more complex than even Donald Trump has claimed so
far.
While it is widely known that some companies and foreign governments gave
money to the foundations, perhaps in an effort to gain favor, one of the key
parts of the puzzle hasn’t been reported: At least a dozen of those same
companies lobbied the State Department, using lobbyists who doubled as major
Clinton campaign fundraisers.
Those companies gave as much as $16 million to
the Clinton charities.
At least four of the lobbyists they hired are
“Hillblazers,” the Clinton campaign’s name for supporters who have raised
$100,000 or more for her current White House race.
Two of the four also raised
funds for Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid.
If elected, Clinton
would be the first U.S. president to have had previous involvement with a
foundation that raised millions of dollars tied to foreign interests and other
donors, said Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University.
ICYMI:
FBI documents allege that a top State Department official with close ties to
Hillary Clinton offered agents a “quid pro quo” in order to hide the true
extent of her exposure of classified information.
Politico reports:
A top State
Department official allegedly “pressured” the FBI to downgrade the
classification of one of Hillary Clinton’s emails as part of a “quid pro quo,”
according to documents released by the bureau on Monday.
The accusation of such
an arrangement came from an interview the FBI conducted with an official in its
records management division.
Notes from the interview were released as part of
the FBI’s public posting of documents related to its now-closed investigation into
Clinton’s use of a private email server.
In the interview, the unnamed official
says that Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management, tried in
late June or early July of last year to get the FBI to change a classified
email to unclassified, in exchange for the State Department allowing the FBI to
place agents in more countries.
The Hill reports:
Republican National
Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus on Monday accused the Obama
administration of deliberately keeping Hillary Clinton from being held
accountable for her handling of classified information while secretary of
State.
“It is deeply troubling that a top State Department official close to
Hillary Clinton offered the FBI a ‘quid pro quo’ to hide the full extent to
which she mishandled classified information,” Priebus said in a statement.
Reports emerged earlier Monday that a State Department official pressured the
FBI to change the top secret classification of an email from Clinton's private
server because it “caused problems.”
Hillary
Clinton “blatantly disregarded” security protocols while serving as secretary
of state.
The Washington Examiner reports:
A former diplomatic security agent told the FBI that Hillary Clinton
"blatantly disregarded" security protocols while serving as secretary
of state.
The revelation came in a 100-page collection of notes released Monday
from the FBI's year-long investigation of Clinton's server.
State Department
staff members also expressed their view that "Clinton was using her
position as secretary of state to campaign for President of the United
States."
According to the diplomatic security agent, whose name was
redacted, Clinton flouted diplomatic standards by refusing to ride in an
armored limosine with U.S. ambassadors while traveling abroad, instead choosing
to ride only with longtime aide Huma Abedin. "This frequently resulted in
complaints from ambassadors who were insulted and embarrassed by this breach of
protocol," the FBI notes said.
FBI
agents are growing frustrated with Director Comey’s leadership following the
bureau’s decision not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton or
any of her top aides.
The Daily Caller reports:
FBI agents say the bureau is alarmed over Director James Comey’s
decision to not suggest that the Justice Department prosecute Hillary Clinton
over her mishandling of classified information.
According to an interview
transcript given to The Daily Caller, provided by an intermediary who spoke to
two federal agents with the bureau last Friday, agents are frustrated by
Comey’s leadership.
“This is a textbook case where a grand jury should have
been convened, but was not. That is appalling,” an FBI special agent who has
worked public corruption and criminal cases said of the decision. “We talk
about it in the office and don’t know how Comey can keep going.”
