Bill Clinton pushed the State Department to allow him to accept speaking fees for events in North Korea and the Congo while his wife was secretary of state, even after the agency declined to approve both speeches.
Hillary Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, arranged the North Korea speech for the former president, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Citizens United.
After Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton’s then-chief of staff, instructed a Clinton Foundation official to decline the invitation, a foundation employee pressed further.
“This came via Tony Rodham,” wrote Amitabh Desai, the Clinton Foundation’s director of foreign policy, in a June 2012 email. “So we would be grateful for any specific concerns we could share, beyond just saying it would be concerning for [the U.S. government.”
The Harry Walker Agency, which has at different times represented both Clintons in their paid speaking engagements, advised Bill Clinton to “quickly decline” an invitation to speak at the Congo, a country known for its human rights abuses.
The event would have required Bill Clinton to meet publicly with Joseph Kabila, the Congolese president.
In an email detailing the invitation, the Harry Walker representative informed Bill Clinton of Kabila’s past dealings, including his long participation in the country’s bloody civil war and the war profiteering of his closest advisers.
“Given President Kabila and others involvement we anticipate you’ll want us to quickly decline,” the Harry Walker representative wrote.
But Desai pressed on, asking Mills and Huma Abedin, another Hillary Clinton aide, if the State Department would allow Bill Clinton to accept the invitation if he donated the $650,000 speaking fee entirely to the Clinton Foundation.
Citizens United sued the State Department to produce the emails as part of its preparation for a sequel to the 2008 documentary “Hillary: The Movie.”
