A new batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails that was released by the State Department Friday indicates the former secretary of state welcomed advice, praise and requests for help from a select group of well-connected friends.
From Sidney Blumenthal, a divisive former aide, to Tony Blair, former British prime minister, the select people who knew and used Clinton’s private email address enjoyed unfettered access to her, while others were routed through her top staff.
The pattern reflects criticism that Clinton faced during a House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing on Oct. 22, in which Republicans blasted the former secretary of state for accepting memos from Blumenthal and his ilk but not from her own ambassadors.
Joe Wilson
Former Ambassador Joe Wilson used his direct line to Clinton to lobby for Symbion Power, where he served on the advisory board starting in 2009.
Wilson, who served as ambassador to Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe in the Clinton administration, asked Clinton for help expanding Symbion’s business in Africa, according to a number of emails released over the past several months.
A message included in the latest batch indicates Wilson pushed Clinton in July 2011 to ask Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, to cut his power company favorable terms on a deal in Tanzania. The U.S. embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, organized an event for Symbion that Clinton evidently attended in June of that year.
“I know that you mentioned that you were going to call Jeff Immelt after your trip,” Wilson wrote to Clinton directly. “When you make that call, I would appreciate your telling him that Symbion, which is already operating a GE plant in Dar can only expand that plant to meet the challenge if GE is prepared to share some of the inherent risk with us and waives the payment guarantee requirement.”
Clinton forwarded Wilson’s request to an aide and asked him to look into Wilson’s request. That aide gave Clinton favorable feedback about Symbion.
Other emails suggest Clinton made efforts to meet Wilson in person on several occasions.
Sidney Blumenthal
The influence Blumenthal wielded at the Clinton State Department has been revealed in a series of emails released over the past few months.
The latest batch further exposes his policy reach, as Blumenthal sent Clinton memos on Dutch politics, Syria and the Egyptian revolution, among many other topics.
Blumenthal sent one memo to Clinton about German politics that was mostly classified. In it, Blumenthal urges Clinton not share the message with any of her staff.
He also discussed the “disastrous nature” of a trip President Obama had taken to Germany, criticizing the White House’s ambassadorial appointment there and noting the president’s actions had left the U.S. “totally out of the loop in Berlin.”
Blumenthal, who was blocked from taking a job at the State Department by Obama’s staff, occasionally used his access to Clinton to bash the president.
In one March 2009 email published Friday, Blumenthal cited poll numbers that showed Clinton’s favorability ratings had eclipsed the president’s.
“Obama is now seen as a more political, contentious, partisan figure,” Blumenthal wrote. “Your rating is much higher among Republicans than his.”
Strobe Talbott
Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution, sent Clinton frequent memos about policy issues around the world.
Clinton wanted to call Talbott personally about his work in Cuban and Chinese diplomacy.
In December 2009, Talbott seemingly had trouble getting through to Clinton directly, complaining to Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, two of Clinton’s top aides, that the personal address he was using for Clinton kept rejecting his messages.
That issue appeared to have been resolved later in Clinton’s tenure, as the two corresponded directly about developments in India and China, among other countries.
Talbott met with Clinton and her top policy aide at the State Department in December 2011, a meeting that underscored the important role Talbott played in Clinton’s operation.
Talbott’s professional relationship with Clinton extended beyond business hours.
For example, a schedule from February 2012 indicates Clinton, her husband and Talbott met for dinner.
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Anne-Marie Slaughter served as a top State Department aide to Clinton until February 2011, when she reportedly returned to academic work at Princeton University.
But her contact with Clinton remained constant after she left the agency.
Slaughter was a prolific writer, publishing pieces in a variety of outlets, including the New York Times and The Atlantic. Many of the pieces, which Slaughter sent directly to Clinton’s desk, pushed policies that Clinton supported.
Slaughter also used her access to lavish praise on her former boss, sending emails with subjects like “great, great speech today” and “brilliant speech today.”
She even emailed Clinton’s staff in January 2012 to let them know that her son thought Clinton looked like Lisa Kudrow, an actress from the television show “Friends.”
Like Clinton’s other friends, Slaughter sent Clinton advice on diplomatic strategy, including during Iran negotiations.
Tony Blair
The former British prime minister fed Clinton information about Libya as the civil war unfolded there in 2011, new emails show.
Blair was then serving as special envoy to the “Middle East Quartet,” a diplomatic arrangement involving the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
In one email, he pressed Clinton on the importance of solving the Libyan crisis before it hurt the country’s oil markets.
“Please work on the no-fly zone, or the other options I mentioned,” Blair wrote to Clinton in February 2011. “Oil prices are rising, markets are down. We have to be decisive.”
Clinton led U.S. efforts to secure the no-fly zone over Libya that was imposed by the United Nations the following month.
In Aug. 2011, Clinton praised Blair for doing the “Lord’s work” in Libya. She relied on him as a link to Moammar Gadhafi before he was deposed, receiving updates of Blair’s direct contact with the former Libyan dictator from Blair’s staff.
Stephen Roach
Stephen Roach, a former Morgan Stanley executive in charge of the bank’s Asian operations, had Clinton’s personal email address and used it to entreat Clinton for a meeting about Chinese economics in July 2009.
“Would love the opportunity to meet with you briefly and give you up update on my thoughts/insights into China and the rest of the region,” Roach wrote to Clinton.
Clinton welcomed the chance to sit down with the banking executive.
“Delighted to hear from and about you,” Clinton replied. “I’m looking forward to seeing you when you’re in D.C.”
She told Roach his timing was “impeccable” given her upcoming participation in Chinese economic talks. Clinton asked her assistant to set up a meeting with the Morgan Stanley executive to hear his thoughts on how to shape those talks.
Ben Affleck
In an email that caught the media’s attention Friday, Hollywood celebrity Ben Affleck asked Clinton to review a proposal from his nonprofit about how to reform security in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Clinton and her staff quickly put together a response, which apparently needed approval from various offices within the State Department before she could send it to Affleck.
The text of the email she sent Affleck was deemed too sensitive for public release and was redacted.
