A conservative group is suing the State Department in an effort to find out whether the agency’s refusal to place Boko Haram on the terrorist watch list while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state had anything to do with the fact that a high-level Nigerian official was a major Clinton Foundation donor and close friend of the former president.
Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit, brought the case to court after the State Department ignored its request for records about the Chagoury Group, a sprawling Nigerian company headed by a Clinton friend and financial supporter of Clinton causes, Gilbert Chagoury.
Chagoury donated between $1 million and 5 million to the Clinton Foundation, donor records show.
More than 30 days have passed since Citizens United first filed the lawsuit without a response of any kind from the State Department.
David Bossie, president of Citizens United, said it was the first time he’d seen the State Department completely ignore a case against it in federal court.
“These proceedings are important that both sides take them seriously,” Bossie said. “I have no idea what the judge will do, but I believe the judge will order a hearing to find out why the government did not respond.”
“Federal judges, I don’t think, look kindly on people who ignore the court’s workings,” he added.
In January 2010, Chagoury was removed from a private jet and questioned by federal agents for hours because his name had been added to the no-fly list, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
Although he was removed from the list before the U.S. government issued a formal, written apology, it is still unclear why he received that designation in the first place and how he was able to get his name off the no-fly list.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., wrote a letter to Kerry in March raising concerns that Chagoury may have attempted to influence Clinton’s decision about whether to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist group.
Vitter demanded the same set of documents Citizens United now seeks.
Secretary of State John Kerry placed Boko Haram on the terrorist watch list in November 2013, shortly after coming into office.
“[G]iven the drastic foothold Boko Haram was allowed to gain prior to being designated an FTO, the nexus between the Department’s decision against designating Boko Haram as an FTO and connections to outside groups should be brought forward,” Vitter wrote.
Vitter said he had obtained evidence demonstrating “that multiple Department employees who were directly involved in the decision against designating Boko Haram as an FTO, including the Office Coordinator for Counterterrorism, have been Clinton Foundation employees.”
He noted Chagoury had been forced to accept a $66 million plea deal after international corruption charges were brought against him in Switzerland.
Citizens United filed a motion asking the court to automatically rule against the State Department and force it to produce the requested documents given its refusal to acknowledge both the lawsuit and the FOIA request.
The group is presently engaged in five separate lawsuits against the agency for records sought under the Freedom of Information Act.
Citizens United also sought records related to Rajiv Fernando, a Chicago fundraiser and Clinton Foundation donor whom Clinton appointed to an elite national security position before removing him amid scrutiny.
The appointment sparked controversy after Clinton’s other national security advisers, which included nuclear scientists, raised questions about Fernando’s qualifications. He had never been involved with national security issues before, and stepped down after his credentials were questioned.
Bossie expressed optimism that his group would eventually obtain the records in question from the State Department.
“At the end of the day, we are going to get the information that we want,” he said. “Not on our schedule, but we are going to get it.”
